


Going Down

by Sororityprincess



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cuteness overload, Death, Drowning, F/M, Fate & Destiny, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I should have more tags, Jadeite is an idiot, Memory Loss, Sailor Senshi Friendship, Sailor Senshi Romance, Soulmates, Zoisite being Zoisite, alternate universe aged up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 09:07:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21241625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sororityprincess/pseuds/Sororityprincess
Summary: This is an aged up AU four months after the defeat of Queen Beryl. It’s set in present day Tokyo and all of the senshi have regained their memories following the battle. In an unexpected twi the Shitennou have also returned in their civilian forms with no memory of their past lives or the senshi. They simply awoke one day to find themselves all reunited with blocks of their memory missing. They have been living the past three months not only trying to find out what happened but why the universe seems intent on killing their second youngest member, Jadeite. It seems that no matter what he does, death is always at his door, that is until he meets the mysterious miko at Hikawa Shrine who knows him. Embark on this journey to find out whether the shitennou will regain their memories and to determine what is truly happening!**Please note some liberties have been taken with the story line and given this is an AU, it does not follow canon.*****Artwork provided by the wonderful and talented i1976blunotte***





	1. Supernatural occurrences such as Fate only happen for a reason

**Author's Note:**

  * For [i1976_blu_notte](https://archiveofourown.org/users/i1976_blu_notte/gifts).

A feeling of cold envelops his every being as an eerie feeling washes over him. He can feel a tightness that wasn’t there before tugging at his lungs and he wonders what’s happening. Slowly, he opens his eyes to discover that his vision is blurred, obstructed by stinging water washing over him. He tries to move but his limbs are unresponsive, almost like they’re stuck in molasses, water engulfing him, leading to the very real panic that he’s drowning.

He’s aware that someone is calling his name but he can’t seem to place who it is. He attempts to move his head in the general direction of the muffled cries but his vision becomes spotty as he tries to exert the energy to move towards the sound. His lungs constrict against the restraint of water surrounding him, slowly taunting him and mocking him from the lack of air that he so desperately needs. He resists for long enough until his body betrays him, and his mouth opens swallowing copious amounts of water as his fight or flight reaction consumes him. It’s a losing battle, one that he never wins. He can’t help but jerk at the sensation of water filling his lungs as a sudden dread fills his mind at the very real possibility that he’s going to die alone. Alone, at the bottom of the ocean, with no idea of how he got to this point. It’s eerily familiar but he can’t place how he ended up in such a situation.

Questions litter his mind as self-pity wraps its greedy arms around him. Why is this happening to him? Why not someone else? Why is HE the one drowning? He had such hopes for this lifetime, he had hoped it wouldn’t end tragically like his others. This was supposed to be the one that was right, the one that would fix all past sins he committed. With those thoughts in mind, his head lulls to the side, fighting to stay conscious as his lungs continue to fill with the slick substance. His eyelids begin to close when he notices a figure with a long red dress swimming towards him. It appears that he did have a savior, but he knew it was too late. It was always too late, he thought to himself as the figure swims frantically towards him, unable to reach him in time before his eyes roll back into his head when a hand finally reaches him.

“Jadeite!! Come on man, wake up!”

Jadeite in his distressed state can feel someone shaking him, no make that, several hands touching him as he fights to open his eyes. He can feel the panic in their voices as they smack him gently across his cheeks. Instead of opening his eyes, his head just flops to one side, barely breathing as he fights to stay conscious. He wants to tell them he’s ok but he can’t seem to find the energy to open his mouth. One would think that it was such a simple task, but he was paralyzed unable to move or breathe.

“It happened again… Why does this keep on happening to him?”

Jadeite tries to do something other than listen to the conversation around him but it seems that his consciousness is being taken away again. Darkness once again claims him before he feels hands being compressed against his chest in a rhythmic fashion.

“One, two, three, four…” he can hear them count and an idle thought of ‘they always count, why do they always count,’ passes through his mind before he feels lips pressed against his own, blowing air into his constricted lungs. He gasps at the sudden rush of air filling him, and his eyes fly open revealing two men kneeling next to him on the floor. One of the men, has long curly brown hair loosely tied into a bun, his worried eyes, fixated on Jadeite’s confused ones as he tries to sit up, coughing and gulping for air. The other, has long golden curly hair, and lets out a sigh of relief as he sees Jadeite seemingly alive.

“Jed,” he starts slowly, “Are you ok?” and hesitates before he continues, “…This episode was longer than the last ones,” he says passing a hand nervously through his hair. “Now, I don’t mind seeing Neph perform CPR on you every time,” he says trying to make light of the situation as he glances over at Nephrite who’s finally sitting back on his legs. “But, we gotta figure out what’s happening… We’re not always going to be there to save you,” he says patting Jadeite, who is still trying to catch his breath.

Jadeite looks over to his friend and shrugs, completely exasperated. “I know, Zoisite,” he says his voice hoarse from all of the coughing. “I don’t know why this keeps on happening either… Are they night terrors?” he questions more to himself than to the others as he glances at his bed. Truthfully, for the past month he had been waking up every other night, either in a panic from having been skewered alive or drowning. His dreams were becoming more and more frequent, and the consequences of the vivid dreams were detrimental to his health.

Thankfully, he lived with roommates, the usually aloof Zoisite, the sensitive Nephrite and the ever so serious Kunzite, who was nowhere to be seen. They had found him more than once, seemingly passed out, across their house in various states of distress. They had tried to reason what was happening to him but there was no logical explanation. None, whatsoever. Nothing made sense for dreams to be so real or in this case, deadly. He could always recall specific details of the dreams but there was never anything conclusive on who was doing this to him or why this was happening to him.

Exasperated, as usual, Jadeite finally speaks up. “Can you help me get up,” Jadeite asks as he tries to lift himself up from his spot on the floor. Nephrite and Zoisite both oblige as they lift him to a standing position, noticing his limbs are shaking. “Why don’t you just sit down,” Nephrite notes as he guides him to the edge of his bed, and helps Jadeite sit down comfortably before noticing that he’s shaking, most probably from the cold sweat he has broken into. He grabs a nearby dark blue blanket and wraps it around Jadeite, shaking his head.

“We really need to figure this out, before it’s too late,” Nephrite comments as he crosses his arms. “Zoisite, call Kunzite or at least text message him to let him know Jadeite had another episode,” he said motioning to the cellphone on the floor that had been most likely thrown in a panic. Zoisite nodded, and grabbed the phone, and excused himself from the room.

“Jed,” Nephrite said looking down at the younger member. “Can you remember anything this time? Anything that can point us in the right direction?” he asked optimistically. Maybe, this time, he had remembered more pertinent details.

“Only the same thing I always remember… some girl wearing red who’s always trying to save me. If I could just figure out who she is or see her face, maybe it would help us find out what happened,” Jadeite said wrapping the blanket tighter around himself. Nephrite nodded and a comfortable silence fell over both men.

Truth be told, there were always bizarre occurrences happening to the four of them. Things they couldn’t explain such as Jadeite’s vivid dreams that practically killed him every other night or Zoisite’s ability to suddenly appear in the most bizarre moments or Nephrite’s ability to predict the future or Kunzite’s ability to manipulate energy. There were so many things they couldn’t explain. They all experienced flashbacks of battles but they couldn’t figure out against who or for what purpose. All they knew, is their memories were fuzzy at best and that anything prior to 3 months ago had been wiped clear of their minds. They were lucky enough to remember who they were, where they lived and what they did for a living, other than that though, they couldn’t remember anything.

They were trying to piece together their broken memories and dedicated a significant amount of time reconstructing what happened three months ago, but they had come to no real conclusions, only more questions. They were so clueless which drove them nuts, especially that their second youngest member was suffering at the clutches of some unknown evil or severe PTSD. Kunzite, their eldest member, had suggested they keep diaries of anything they could remember, but it had amounted to nothing. The only thing that had become clear to all four men was that a fifth member of their “team” was missing. There was an irreplaceable gap they couldn’t pinpoint and whenever they thought about the missing member, they were convinced the name was at the tip of their tongues, but no matter how many times they tried to spit out the name they couldn’t. They only hoped the fifth member was not wandering around aimlessly as lost as them. Their only solace, was they had each other at least.

“You sure you’re ok Jed?” Nephrite said glancing over at Jadeite who seemed to be completely lost in thought.

Jadeite nodded and forced himself to plaster a reassuring smile. “Yeah, I’m good Neph. Just a little sore,” he said pointing to his chest. “Nothing, a few hours of rest can’t fix,” he said quietly as he lowered his gaze towards the ground. While sleeping was the last thing he wanted to do, he knew his body would force him to close his eyes and rest after the severe trauma his body underwent. A shiver ran down his spine, at the thought of having to live through another drowning or worse, and he let out a deep sigh. “What time is it any way?” he asked all of a sudden turning his gaze back on Nephrite.

Nephrite flipped his wrist, “Shit, it’s already 1:30am…” he said with a low whistle. “I wonder where Kunzite is… it’s unlike him to be out this late,” he said walking towards the door and looking down the hallway. Even Zoisite was being too quiet. “I’ll be right back… let me go see if I can locate either Zoisite or Kunzite,” he said looking back at Jadeite before taking his leave.

Jadeite watched Nephrite’s back disappear through the doorway and let out a sigh as he lay on his bed. He looked up at the ceiling, and blinked back the traitorous tears that were threatening to fall. Truth was, he was not ok and hadn’t been for weeks. He tried to keep up appearances for his friends but he was terrified. He couldn’t bring himself to sleep anymore and when he did sleep, he suffered. To say he was exhausted was an understatement. There was no point in worrying his friends, but he didn’t know how much longer he could survive in this state. Letting out another sigh, he closed his eyes and tried to focus on his latest dream. He let the waves of water wash over him and focused on the girl. He had a feeling that everything would be answered if he could just find her. He focused on the red billowing dress as she swam towards him, then let his eyes trace up her hands, arms, collar bone but anything after that was a blur. He cocked his head and forced his brain to focus on her face for any distinct feature and finally, his brain gave him reprieve as her eyes came into focus, a dark violet flashed before him.

“Bingo!” he exclaimed proudly as he finally had something more concrete than just a girl wearing red. “1 point to me creepy dreams. Watch me figure this out now,” he said flipping off no one in particular and turned onto his side happy with his accomplishment. Before, he could provide the good news to the others, he found himself drifting off to sleep again, but this time slightly more peacefully as his dreams circled around the girl and not his imminent death.


	2. Fate has a sense of humour

A fierce and controlled fire burned as a miko waved her hands in circular motions, eyes closed, as beads of swept threatened to fall from her brow. She spoke words softly as she focused on the questions that continuously burned in her mind. For weeks, she started having flashes of a man no older than her in a desperate struggle drowning. There was something familiar about the way his hair moved in the water as she swam towards him to no avail. His eyes locked on hers as he tried to move towards her swimming form. No matter how much she tried to reach him, she couldn’t. It was as though there was some external force keeping him at bay from her and preventing her from ever reaching him. It was always at the particular moment when she reached him, that her visions ended or she woke up from her dreams. On this early morning, as she sat in front of her fire, it was no different. Her eyes flew open as beads of sweat trickled down her forehead leaving her staring blankly at the blazing fire.

“I know it all means something,” she whispered to herself as she wiped her brow with the back of her hand. Normally, a private person she had taken the liberty to explain her visions and dreams to her friends in the hopes they would be able to either corroborate the information or provide insight into what was happening. Ami, her ever so astute and intelligent friend, had noted that perhaps the dreams were actually not even about a man but inner feelings of turmoil following their years as Sailor Senshi. Or maybe, it was because she felt suffocated by the constant need to save others that she was dreaming of this man. What she couldn’t shake was that his features were eerily familiar. There was something about the deep blue that stared back at her that prevented her from believing this was simply her emotions speaking to her. If she was honest to herself, the person in question was eerily reminiscent of one of her past lovers.

Closing her eyes, and tilting her head back, she forced herself to take a deep breath and recall the image of the figure in the water once more. All she could discern was his eyes and the outline of a man. His face was never in focus but no matter how many times she tried to shake the feeling, there was always one name that crossed her mind: Jadeite. At that thought, she opened her eyes once more and shook her head. It couldn’t be him, he was dead. She had seen him die twice along with the other Heavenly Kings when Beryl had brainwashed them to aid her. There was no way that he could have been revived once more especially that she saw him die. It would be just ludicrous for her to think there was a hope in hell that he was alive.

Sighing in disappointment at the thought and trying to rid herself of the eerie feeling, she stood up, straightening her white and red robes. “Focus Rei,” she told herself calmly as she spared one last glance at the fire. “Your visions can be wrong…” she said tearing her eyes away and focusing herself to leave the room. While her visions could lead to misinterpretation she had found that they were never wrong. They always held a sliver of truth to them and this time was no different. There had to be some truth to her seeing a vision of a drowning man; whether it was Jadeite or not, and with that last fleeting thought she decided to start undertaking her chores keeping her mind busy in the early morning hours.

* * *

“I can’t believe you’re dragging me to a temple to get a charm to ward off my nightmares,” Jadeite exclaimed rolling his eyes. “I really don’t need any bullshit fake charm to help, ok?” he said trying to turn away for the umpteenth time from his persistent nagging friend.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Zoisite chuckled as Jadeite tried to turn around again. He squared both of his shoulders and looked at him dead in the eyes, “Jed, listen to me. Even if it’s some bullshit charm as you so eloquently exclaimed, it’s better than nothing. Clearly, all of our attempts to help you have been for naught, so how about we just walk up these steps up to the pretty little temple and get you a charm, ok? Honestly, it’s going to take 10 minutes, at best, to get a blessing and a charm. So suck it up, be a man, and walk up those stairs,” Zoisite said pushing the second youngest up the stairs. “Don’t make me baby talk you up these stairs,” he said rolling his eyes as Jadeite dug his heels into the cement steps.

“I’m just saying it’s not necessary to do this. Why would a piece of paper or ribbon help me? This whole thing is ridiculous… also must you have found a temple at the top of stairs? Like come on, we passed at least 15 temples on our way over here. Could we have not stopped at the others and prevented ourselves from venturing further into the city, hmmm?” he said lifting an eyebrow.

“No, we couldn’t have stopped at another one. First, this is the best temple in town and second, apparently the miko is hot, so I wanted to see for myself,” Zoisite noted with a smirk. “Come on, it’ll be worth the trip! Just get up the stairs and stop being a man baby about this, go, go, go,” he said pushing Jadeite further up the stairs.

Jadeites resolve finally dissolved as he glared at the younger man beside him. He was clearly too excited about this damn expedition and he should have known that it was about some girl. There was always some girl on Zoisite’s mind, and of course, his willingness to help him would have been purely motivated by his brain below his belt instead of in his head. “Fine,” he mumbled finally, as he took his last step at the top of the stairs. “I’ll entertain this idea for exactly 11 minutes, so if we don’t get the charm or see this hot girl you speak of,” he said doing quotation marks with his fingers, “then I’m leaving. I’ll also let Kunzite know that you dragged me halfway across the city because Zoisite junior felt the need to be entertained.”

“Don’t talk about him that way, there's no way that he can be classified as junior,” he said winking and ducking before Jadeite could smack him across the head.

“You’re so insufferable sometimes,” Jadeite exclaimed as he turned to walk towards the temple. There was already a small line up waiting for charms, and he stood behind them calmly as he took in his surroundings. He paid particular attention to the many cherry blossom trees waiting to blossom and the way the wooden ema swayed gently in the wind. He wondered how many prayers and wishes were displayed daily and whether any of the wishes or prayers were granted.

Jadeite wasn’t a religious man, or at least, he didn’t think that he was. Ever since that famous day 3 months again when the four of them woke up confused in the middle of a forest, things had been difficult at best. He closed his eyes as he recalled the day.

* * *

_Wind was blowing through his hair, he was cognizant of that, and that he was cold, so very cold. It felt like he was in an uncomfortable bed, no scratch that, was he in dirt? Jadeite slowly stirred and opened his eyes, only to find that he was met with pure darkness and a chilling cold. He slowly brought himself to a sitting position as he waved his hand in from of his face, and noticed that wherever he was, it was extremely dark. He turned his head, and except for the rustling of the branches in nearby trees, he heard nothing. _

_“Where am I?” he thought to himself as he rubbed his arms for warmth. Thankfully, he was dressed in some sort of suit, but it wasn’t very warm he thought to himself. That and he was quite damp. The earth he had been laying on was filled with moisture and wasn’t helping with his general disposition. It didn’t help that he had a splitting headache and that his anxiety was starting to rise as every slow second passed. “Where the hell am I…?” he once again questioned as he tried to get up on his wobbly legs. _

_As he tried to stand up, he realized how weak he was and fell down immediately to his knees. A shooting pain radiating up to his head forcing him to clutch his head with both his hands. He sucked in a sharp breathe as he tried to regulate his breathing and keep down the panic attack that was threatening to show its nasty fangs. _

_“You’re ok, you’re ok, you’re ok,” he mumbled to himself like some sort of mantra as the realization that he was scared and alone sunk in. Thousands of reasons for his current state, flashed through his mind. Had he been kidnapped? Was he still in danger? Was he drunk? Did he take drugs? Why was he here? How did he get here? Where is here? How do I get out of here? What is that sound? Oh my god, what is that sound? His head snapped towards a rustling of the leaves as he braced himself for a predator or the cause of his current state to come crashing into sight. Not that he would have been able to see the perpetrator properly, but he braced himself nonetheless by forcing himself to his feet, pushing the radiating headache down. He also grabbed a nearby branch and forced himself to slow down his breathing as he waited for his inevitable doom to descent upon him. _

_“I’m telling you… I’m sure Jadeite is around here somewhere. It’s not normal to have found all of you but not Jed,” a deep voice spoke as three figures emerged from the tree-line surrounding Jadeite. Jadeite having not quite realized what was happening, and having an entire lifetimes worth of adrenaline pumped into his system, took a step forward swinging his branch towards the newcomers. _

_“Get away from me,” Jadeite screamed uselessly into the night as he tried to fight off the three figures. _

_“He was always the most anxious out of all of us,” one of the men said with a chuckle as he ducked from Jadeites wrath. Another, the silver haired man, grabbed Jadeite from behind and wrapped his arms around the panicked man. “Jadeite, calm down… it’s us, it’s your friends,” he said, trying to be as soothing as possible as Jadeite continued to thrash about._

_“Jed, JED!! It’s Kunzite holding you down and it’s Nephrite talking to you ok? And Zoisite, is right there… calm down. No one is here to hurt you,” Nephrite stated frantically as the situation clearly escalated. “Just calm down. I know this is all confusing, believe me, we know. But we’re not going to harm you ok!” _

_At the sound of Nephrite’s voice and the reassurance that it was indeed his friends, he slumped forward, letting Kunzite hold him up. “Oh my god… what the hell is going on?” he asked lifting his eyes to meet theirs. “Do you know how creepy it is to wake up in a forest and not know how you got there?” _

_“Oh how about not remembering anything either and feeling like you have a massive hang over?” Zoisite exclaimed in jest. “Wait, until you figure out that your memory has been tempered with, that’s EVEN more fun, believe me!” he said sarcastically. _

_“What?” Jadeite said as a new sort of panic starting to rise up within him. “What are you talking about….?” _

* * *

And so, that’s how Jadeite was reunited with his friends, without the knowledge of who or why anyone erased parts of their memory. What was even stranger is that when they finally were able to find their way out of the forest, they had stumbled into lives that didn’t seem like their own. Yes, they had access to housing and bank accounts, but some of them didn’t even have their proper names and everything felt artificial and fabricated. Nothing seemed to be quite right, but after months of trying to improve their memory or find out who they really were. They gave up. They figured that eventually things would fall into place and that someone would remember something. To date, they were only left with more questions than answers. They were simply stumbling through life in the hopes that one day someone would recognize them for who they were and not who they are.

Jadeite shifted slightly as the person in front of him stepped out of the line and he stepped towards the miko before him. He sucked in a breath as the air seemed thicker and waited for her to lift her head towards him. For now, all he saw was dark raven hair cascading down a crisp white robe and settling neatly onto the red hakama. A headache was starting to play behind his eyes as he waited for her to finish her notes in front of her. He watched as her hand moved swiftly across the paper with precision and accuracy. He also took note to the way her hand flicked ever so slightly as she finished her thoughts on each point she was writing. It was most likely notes to herself or about the previous charm she issued.

“Ok, sorry about that,” she started as she slowly lifted her head towards Jadeite, “How can I help….” Her words died on her tongue as a mixture of relief and fear spread across her face at the sight of the man before her. For Jadeite, it felt like time froze and he didn’t know whether he should breathe or scream as the girl before him had the most vivid violet eyes he had ever seen, and he had only ever seen one other pair; in his dreams. The thought crippled him and he attempted to take a deep breath, however, it seemed like all bodily functions were no longer receptive. His headache increased exponentially the longer he found himself unable to properly breathe. Was he hyperventilating? Darkness slowly claimed his vision as he heard not only Zoisite screaming his name but the mysterious miko with the violet eyes as his headache intensified to the point where he no longer heard anything. His body finally slumped to the ground causing a widespread panic amongst the temple patrons and most importantly between Zoisite and the miko.


	3. A meeting stronger than fate

For once a feeling of warmth was enveloping Jadeite instead of a feeling of cold he was so used to feeling. He felt a heaviness on his chest that was not uncomfortable but which brought him comfort instead of a feeling of dread. This was perhaps one of his best slow wake up calls in quite some time. What was not pleasant was the incessant arguing that he was hearing back and forth between a familiar and not-so familiar voice.

“I don’t know how many times or how many different ways I need to say this, but I don’t know you! I have never seen you before in my entire life and I bet you dear old Jed here, will say the same thing. So, how about you calm down and not accuse me of rising from the dead like some ghoul. As you can see, I’m well and alive, and standing right in front of you!”

“That’s PRECISELY the problem! How can you just be standing there like nothing happened? Like, like… like you didn’t die. You all did!”

At that statement, and before Zoisite could have some clever comeback, Jadeite opened his eyes. “What?” he managed to strangle out. “What do you mean by we died…? Do you know us?” he asked sitting up in what he realized now was a bed.

At the sound of Jadeite’s voice the miko stilled, her eyes falling on his in disbelief. He simply stared back unsure what he should say. She seemed to regard him with a mixture of sadness and apprehension. His immediate thought ventured to whether she knew him because of his dreams or for other reasons. The more he observed her, the more he was convinced that she was indeed the girl he was dreaming of. That she was somehow linked to their lost memories, to the dreams he was having and that perhaps she would be able to answer their unanswered questions.

He repeated again. “Do you know us?” he questioned softly. While she looked to be a typically a self-assured individual, it seemed that their presence truly haunted her, which led him to feel extremely uncomfortable. He felt as though he was some kind of filth being examined under a microscope. He made to open his mouth to speak, however, he noticed that the frozen girl was finally reacting to his words.

“I… just can’t believe this is happening,” she finally admitted shaking her head. “I just need a moment to get my bearings… I’ll be right back,” she said turning to take her leave.

Before Jadeite could comprehend or reflect on what he was doing, he bolted up from the bed, “No, wait you need to at least answer what you know,” he pleaded and gently grabbed her arm. As he did, a flash of images danced across his mind. From strolls along the beach, to arguments in the gardens, to battles he never thought existed. The overwhelming images hit him all at once until she wrestled her arm out of his hold.

“I just need a moment,” she reiterated, eyes filled with unshed tears. “I swear I’ll be right back and YOU don’t go anywhere,” she threatened as she stepped outside of the room leaving Jadeite in a daze.

“Ok, what the hell is going on?” Zoisite said breaking the silence. “Do you know her? Because I have literally had my ear chewed off while you decided to become sleeping beauty. Way to go on your manly display on dropping dead at every chance you get. What the hell is wrong with you?”

Zoisite simply stared back at his friend wishing he could tell him anything. Even a lie would be better than feeling like he was losing his mind. He was now more certain than ever there was some sort of definitive connection to her. If the dreams hadn’t been forewarning enough, the slew of visions he just experienced had to have been. His mind couldn’t help but land on one particular flash. They were clearly walking along a beach and he was wearing some sort of general outfit. When the hell was he a general? Then again it didn’t matter when he was a general, he couldn’t remember and the outfit he saw was eerily reminiscent of when he and the other three were found in the forest. What did it all mean? He wished he could just command his brain to tell him what was going on instead of just toying with him. At this rate, he was convinced that he would go insane.

“So, you’ve resorted to not responding to me now? That’s reeaalll mature Jadeite, real mature. We’re in a bit of a weird crisis and you’re shutting down. That’s good, that’s good. I’ll remember this for when it counts,” Zoisite said huffing and walking towards the open window overlooking the temple grounds.

“I think she’s from our past,” Jadeite whispered apprehensively.

“Oh ya think?” Zoisite said clicking his tongue. “I’m thinking that captain obvious just waltzed in and used his super obvious powers there… of course she knows. While you were sleeping up a storm a la Disney Princess, she was letting all kinds of things slip. Like, how we’re supposed to be dead, how we shouldn’t be in this realm (whatever the hell that means) but most importantly, she kept on asking if we would hurt her. Like what kind of fucked up people were we before we had our memories wiped clean? This whole thing is creeping me out.”

“Me too,” Jadeite admitted. “And you don’t have to get testy with me. I don’t know what the fuck is going on either. All I know is that whatever is happening, she seems to have answers. I just don’t know if we’re ready for the answers to be honest.”

“Clearly not. That’s why I already sent an SOS to Kunzite and Nephrite so they can come save us from this weird situation. They should be here in 10 minutes.”

“Don’t you think that by inviting them over it might freak her out even more? What happens if she knows ALL of us and she freaks out over the fact we’re all “alive?”” Jadeite pressed.

“Well, then it’ll be better than her skinning us alive. Have you felt the energy coming off of her? I know that miko’s can harness a certain level of power but she’s positively humming. So, excuse me if I want a little self-preservation on my side instead of falling either into her wrath or whatever is happening.”

Jadeite simply nodded in agreement. “I guess it makes sense,” he finally said after a few moments. “I just hope that it doesn’t spook her more than she already is…”

* * *

Meanwhile, Rei is having an existential crisis through a series of text messages to Mamoru:

**Rei**:  
10:12am: So, help me god Mamoru but why the hell are two of your generals hanging out at my temple?  
10:13am: Mamoru, I don’t care what your excuse is for not answering but I need you to answer now! I’ve already tried calling you twice and believe me I will continue harassing you until you pick up or answer.  
10:15am: Please answer.

**Mamoru**:  
10:17am: I’m at a staff meeting at the hospital - what do you mean my generals?

**Rei**:  
10:17am: It’s exactly what it sounds like… the shitennou. I have two of them in my room right now…. Jadeite and Zoisite.

**Mamoru**:  
10:18am: ...are you sure?

**Rei**:  
10:18am: Believe me, I have never been so sure of something in my life!! You think I would just make this up? I swear I’ll take a picture if you need proof!  
10:19am: Are you still there?

**Mamoru**:  
10:20am: Yes, I’m processing.  
10:20am: And frankly, it’s impossible, they’re dead… they couldn’t have come back to life.

Rei rolled her eyes at Mamoru’s response. God, that man could be dense and stubborn sometimes. She turned back to the closed door of her bedroom, and pushed it slightly open. Inside, she could clearly see that Zoisite and Jadeite were having an equally heated discussion. She angled her phone just right and took a quick picture of the bickering shitennou.

**Rei**:  
10:21am: Enjoy the picture… I’m telling you it’s them!

**Mamoru**:  
10:23am: I don’t know what to say other than… it looks like them. Are you sure they’re not just lookalikes?

**Rei**:  
10:23am: DO I LOOK LIKE SOMEONE WHO IS CALM, COOL and COLLECTED ABOUT THIS?!? NO, THEN YES IT’S THEM!!

**Mamoru**:  
10:24am: Ok, ok, I realize it’s most likely them. Let me try to get someone to cover my shift at the hospital and I’ll be right over.

Rei’s initial reaction was to throw the phone through the door at his response but instead she calmly typed that she would be waiting for him. For now, she realized that she needed to pull herself together and try to deal with the two men in her room. After all, it wasn’t every day that your dead soulmate just walked up to your temple for a charm and didn’t remember who you were. Scoffing to herself, she now realized how stupid she had been to think that her readings in the fire weren’t related to Jadeite. Everything pointed at the fact that it was him, even her gut was telling her that it was him, yet she ignored it. So, now she found herself in a situation where she didn’t know how to act or react, she just knew that she needed to step back into that room.

Taking a deep breath, she stilled her nerves and urged her heart to stop beating as fast as it was. The last thing she wanted was to spook Jadeite or Zoisite, and have them leave before Mamoru arrived. She needed to make sure that he at least encountered them before they left. Breathing in deeply once again she enveloped her hand around the door knob and stepped back into the room. Both men turned around and stared at her and she calmly walked towards the middle of the room.

“Are you feeling better?” she stated evenly as she let her violet eyes rest on Jadeite’s. She was proud of herself for maintaining her nerves and for the success that her voice didn’t quiver or waiver as she posed the question.

Jadeite looked over at the miko and nodded instead of responding. She seemed to be holding herself together by a thread and the last thing he wanted to do was make her crumble. His heartbeat hiked slightly as he observed her fidget slightly with her left sleeve.

“Ok, that’s good that you’re feeling better,” she continued. “You gave us quite the scare back there,” she said trying to gear the conversation away from all of the questions swimming in her head, and now with the stare Jadeite was giving her, she was certain he had plenty as well.

“I’m sorry but I don’t think I caught your name,” Jadeite interrupted. “I mean, you seem to know plenty about us but I didn’t catch what your name was. I’d like to know what it is if you’re willing to share it,” he said with a small smile.

Rei would never admit it out-loud but having Jadeite ask her name was more painful than she realized it would be. She tried to hide the flicker of emotion that must have clearly moved across her face, and forced a smile instead. “Oh yeah,” she said with a too-high-pitched and unnatural giggle, “I guess you wouldn’t have known or shouldn’t know… Anyway, it’s Rei Hino.”

“Nice to meet you Ms. Hino,” Jadeite stated with a genuine smile as he extended his hand. Jadeite was a selfish man, part of the reason he wanted to know her name was indeed to know her name but the other part was to ensure a formal introduction. He wanted to shake hands with her. He wanted to see if he would see another flash, he needed to know more. It seemed that this Rei Hino had all of the answers to the secrets they wished to unearth. Without a doubt, she held out her hand almost greedily and he laced their hands together. A warmth passed over him as he waited for a vision but nothing happened. Instead, they just awkwardly shook hands with one another not willing to let go first. Jadeite in particular kept on shaking her hand in the hopes that a vision would manifest itself and Rei was just happy to be able to feel Jadeite’s warmth. That touching him was enough to confirm that he was really in front of her.

“Alright, enough with the weirdly long handshake,” Zoisite said breaking the moment between both of them. Jadeite removed his hand from Rei’s and placed it through his hair. “Sorry, I didn’t realize it was awkward,” he said with a chuckle. “I guess I’m still off.”

“I don’t think you were ever on,” Zoisite said with a wink.

“I see you’re still an ass,” Rei mumbled as she placed her hands on top of each other.

Zoisite cocked an eyebrow towards Rei. “You keep on making jabs like you know us, so how about you enlighten us on what you think you know about us?”

“I don’t want to share what I know right now,” Rei hesitated. “I want to wait until someone gets here and then maybe we can talk about why I think I know you.”

“But, you do know us right? You said we died?” Jadeite questioned. “What does that mean? We’re clearly not dead. Did we disappear?”

Rei looked over at Jadeite and smiled sadly. “You could say that you disappeared. I think that would be an accurate statement but honestly I don’t want to venture into the whole topic, not without having someone else here. I just don’t feel comfortable sharing everything if your memory is not in tact to be honest,” she said softly. “I don’t want to be the person who explains it all.”

“Well, that sounds kind of ominous,” Zoisite said chipping in. “Anyway, we wanted to make sure that we had reinforcements too so we called our friends to come over. So if you’re bringing new people to the party, so are we!”

“Did you invite Kunzite and Nephrite?” Rei asked involuntarily. She cringed as the words tumbled out of her mouth. She should have just kept quiet as she saw both mens expressions move through shock to wariness. “I… I mean your friends,” she said recovering extremely poorly. If she could have facepalmed herself she would have but under the circumstances it was probably best if she no longer spoke or moved.

“Hmmm…. I don’t know if I should be worried or impressed by the knowledge you hold,” Zoisite admitted. “It’s a slippery slope but I’ll let the rest of the events determine whether to trust you or not.”

“Believe me, it’s not you who needs to trust me but vice versa,” she returned as quickly as Zoisite had dealt the insult.

“Ok, ok,” Jadeite intervened. “Maybe, let’s just wait until all of the parties arrive and then we can broach the subject… No point in everyone getting riled up,” he said more to himself than the others. In all honesty, he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. This whole situation was surreal and bizarre making his anxiety spike in ways it had never spiked before. Honestly, he didn’t even know that he had anxiety until the events of the past 3 months had occurred. Dealing with everything had been difficult, but in this situation, you could literally cut the tension. There were so many nerves present in the room, he didn’t know where to look or what to say.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as the three of them looked at each other awkwardly waiting for one or another to break the silence. Finally, the sound of someone’s cell phone ringtone echoed throughout the room. At first, no one reacted to pick up their phone when Zoisite finally realized it was his phone ringing and no one else's. He answered the phone quickly before losing the call.

“Hello? Yeah, where are you? Oh you’re here already? Good, let me just find out where we are exactly,” he said cupping his hand over the microphone, and turning towards Rei. “Can you tell me exactly where we are? The others are here.” Rei gave Zoisite some quick direction which he relayed back to the voice on the other side and the silence fell once more over the three as they waited for the new arrivals.

A knock was heard at the door and Rei quickly went to answer the door. To her surprise, it wasn’t Kunzite or Nephrite standing in front of her but Mamoru looking a little worse for wear. From his appearance it was clear that he left in a rush from the hospital and that some running had been involved. He peered into the room and saw both Zoisite and Jadeite staring back at him. Before he could process the significance of this news and the validation that it was indeed two of the Shitennou, he heard someone clearing his throat behind him. He turned around to find the other missing Shitennou: Nephrite and Kunzite.

He took a steadying breath and turned back to Rei. “Ok, now I believe you.”


	4. When Fate intervenes be cautious

“So, you’re trying to tell me that you all just woke up in the middle of the forest, with memories of remembering each other and your civilian lives but nothing else?” Mamoru asked for the third time as he eyed them suspiciously. It wasn’t that he didn’t necessarily believe them, it’s that it all sounded like it could make sense. Why wouldn’t it make sense to have them wake up randomly in a forest? Weirder occurrences had happened in the past so why shouldn’t he believe this one? 

“That’s correct,” Kunzite reiterated even keel once more. “I don’t know how else to explain it,” he stated crossing one leg over the other and placing both his hands on his knee. “It’s almost as bizarre as you telling us that you know us, however, not one of us knows who you are. Not to mention that you keep on alluding there’s a deeper meaning to what has been happening.” 

Jadeite shifted uncomfortably at the mention that no one knew who this Mamoru was. Truth be told, that while he didn’t know exactly who he was, he had seen him before in his dreams. There was one dream in particular that bothered him to no end where Kunzite, Nephrite, Zoisite and himself, we’re kneeling in a palace room in front of this Mamoru character. While the dream was always short there was always some sort of dialogue alluding to a Prince, whom he assumed was Mamoru and Kings of the North, East, West and South. He never paid attention to the dreams as he had deemed them safe, however, having Mamoru in front of him in this particular assistance was bothering him. Why was this Mamoru person saying he knew them and why did he keep on using the word civilian. Of course, they were all civilians. What else would they be? Everything was just too complicated to understand which prompted Jadeite to pass a hand through his hair, sighing loudly. 

“Care to share something?” Zoisite offered as he looked over at Jadeite. “It’s not exactly the sighing type of situation Jed…” he stated sarcastically. “Maybe, a pull your hair out type of situation but not a sigh situation.” 

Jadeite looked over at the youngest member and prevented himself from rolling his eyes. The urge was strong to do so but he held it in. “Well Zoisite, this situation is complicated… my brain hurts over this. As an example, the fact that two strangers are telling us they know us and the fact that this guy,” he said pointing to Mamoru, “Keeps on using peculiar language. Why keep talking about civilian this and civilian that? What are you some kind of Prince?” he blurted out testing the waters. 

Immediately, Rei and Mamoru blanched and looked at each other. In the interim, Zoisite simply scoffed noting that Jadeite had lost his mind but their reaction was enough for Jadeite to latch onto and start questioning. “No,” he said pointing an accusatory finger, “I think I’m onto something. Their reaction was not normal… Like I said this is so complicated,” he said sighing once more, “and to complicate matters further I’ve seen both of them in my dreams.” 

At this Rei leaned forward, “Are you remembering things? What do you remember about Mamoru? You said you think he’s a Prince, why do you think that? How did you see me?” 

Jadeite listened to the questions and wondered whether he should be sharing such intimate details with strangers. In the end, he decided he had nothing to lose and started opening up with all eyes on him. “It’s complicated but I’ve been having realistic dreams for the past couple of months. Sometimes, it involves him,” he said pointing to Mamoru again,“ and other times it’s you,” he said looking at Rei. “Most of the time,” he started as a light pink blush spread across his cheeks, “it’s you. You’re almost always in my dreams and I don’t know why. Sometimes, we’re strolling along the beach and I’m wearing this bizarre grey uniform, and other times we’re just…” he paused as his blushed deepened, “...doing other things,” he said clearing his throat. This was going to be more difficult than he thought as he tried to regain his composure to continue talking. He decided to focus on Mamoru instead. 

“For you, Mamoru, is it? In my dreams I don’t think your name is Mamoru. I feel like it’s something more regal than that and you’re clearly a Prince. You’re wearing a navy blue outfit with boots to your knees with a cape… I think you have a sword too. I remember a marble ballroom, maybe, and some talk about Kings of the East, West, South and North… It’s all snippets but they seem real and vivid when they’re happening. It doesn’t make sense though because I’m the only one who’s experiencing this. The only one who sees things that aren’t there and the only one who nearly dies… none of it makes sense…” 

Jadeite took a deep breath as he let his words sink in and let his eyes wander to Rei. She was staring back at him with mixed emotions. “What do you mean you nearly die?” Rei asked quietly.

“It’s complicated… I don’t know what really happens,” Jadeite admitted as he put a hand through his hair again. He felt uncomfortable with the attention on him and wished he hadn’t started this conversation. He had no answers and didn’t know what to tell them. He could tell that both Mamoru and Rei were exchanging concerned exchanges and not one of them had confirmed that he was wrong in what he said, which meant there was some truth to what he relayed. 

“Let me explain,” Kunzite intervened and patted Jadeite on the shoulder noticing that he seemed uncomfortable. “At first, it just seemed like Jadeite was prone to accidents. It started off with a cyclist nearly hitting him when he was walking on the sidewalk, then a car nearly taking him out on a crosswalk, to random accidents that were near fatal being drawn to him. While those occurrences were bizarre nothing compares to this damn recurring dream he has where he drowns…” 

Rei gasped in the background at the mention of Jadeite having dreams where he drowns and clasped both of her hands over her mouth. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, “Please continue…” she said trying to calm herself down at the realization they were experiencing the same vision. “What happens in the vision?” 

Kunzite cocked an eyebrow towards Rei and continued, “For the past month or so, Jadeite has been having trouble sleeping because every other night he experiences a dream so intense about drowning that he literally drowns. It sounds crazy, but we’ve had to assist him more times than I care to remember. He’s become a danger to himself and isn’t even safe when he sleeps. It’s as though the universe itself is plotting his demise. To make matters worse, it appears that Nephrite is starting to have Jadeite’s bad luck with random accidents. It’s completely unexplainable, but it’s happening.” 

“I-I believe y-you,” Rei stuttered out. She turned to Mamoru, “I believe them, Mamoru. There’s something happening here, it doesn’t make sense but for the past couple of days I’ve been having visions of a man drowning. Even just this morning I thought to myself that it looked like Jadeite but I thought he was dead, yet here he is. I don’t know what’s happening but it can’t be good. Do you think Beryl is back and that she’s trying to take them back?” she said chancing a glance at the four men. 

Jadeite arched an eyebrow at the name; it felt familiar but not enough to conjure a memory. There was just a distant recollection that, that name was perhaps once important to him. He looked at the others to gauge their reactions and none of them reacted other than for their shock at the situation. He had never seen any of them shifting so uncomfortably and being so vulnerable in front of people they didn’t believe to know. 

Mamoru finally responded to Rei after some thought over her questions. “I don’t think it’s Beryl or Metallia - Usako took care of them. This feels different and if it was Beryl, she would have turned them already. She wouldn’t have let them live a peaceful life without her interference. This is definitely something else but I don’t know what it is,” he admitted. “I think we need to advise the others about this. They need to be aware that the Shitennou are back and that they’re roaming around, we can’t have them haphazardly bumping into them. Rei you can handle a fateful encounter but the others wouldn’t be able to with the exception of Ami.” 

“Ohhh is this Ami hot because if she’s like missy over here, I’d like to meet her,” Zoisite said interrupting with a chuckle. 

“The irony is not lost on me that Zoisite responded like that to Ami’s name…” Mamoru said rolling his eyes and ignoring the hot blooded male sitting across from him. Zoisite attempted a counter argument, however, Mamoru was already moving on. “Kunzite,” he said looking at the eldest. “Is there anything we need to know about this situation? Is that all you can tell us given the circumstances? Also, thank you for trusting enough to give us this information. We truly do know the four of you, and we only have your best interest at heart.” 

Kunzite nodded. “I don’t know why, but there is something trustworthy about you,” he said with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “It also helps that Jadeite has confirmed that he knows you from his dreams. I never thought I would use that sentence, but here we are.” 

Mamoru nodded as well. “I have to admit that I never thought I would see you again. It’s surreal to think that you're actually sitting in front of me. I assume that you would like a little context to exactly who you are. I’ll give you the Coles notes version so bear with me as it’s a lengthy story. I hope that by sharing it with you that perhaps your memory will be jogged or you’ll remember something…” he said trailing off. He hoped that it would also provide them solace. Having lost his memories from before his accident still weighed heavily on him, so he could imagine how the group before him was feeling. As such, he gifted them with the story of the Silver Millennium along with the most recent battle with Beryl. He provided as many details as he deemed necessary with Rei filling in the blanks for him.

They both watched as the four men’s unbelieving expressions turned to understanding; even though they didn’t fully believe. After hours of conversing, they all agreed they would reconvene in the coming days after Rei and Mamoru met with the others to fill them in on the latest. With their heads filled with foreign memories the Shitennou (as they were called) left with heavy hearts and headed home to recuperate from the shock of the day. Jadeite in particular was caught between a place of shock and wanting to know more. The more he thought about the events that were explained to him, the more he felt like they were his fuzzy memories. There was something about all of them that had them tied by a tiny red string of fate and it not only excited him for the future but terrified him as well. 

* * *

Within a few hours of having met with the Shitennou, Rei and Mamoru found themselves in a similar situation with the Senshi now. To say the Senshi were surprised was an understatement. Emotions ranging from fear to happiness crossed the room as they heatedly discussed how the Shitennou could have been reborn without their knowledge and without their memories. They couldn’t help but think there was something amiss in this situation. It seemed that all but one was convinced something was wrong and the usually bubbly leader of the team was sitting back being a silent participant. 

Usagi bit her bottom lip as she listened to everyone debate about how the Shitennou could have been brought back to life. She lowered her gaze to her hands wringing them in her pale pink dress. She knew that she should speak up and that she should join in but she didn’t know how to approach the subject. Mamoru seemed to capture her uneasiness and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and whispered softly, “Are you ok Usako?” At that she let her eyes travel up to his and forced herself to smile, nodding slowly. Yes, she was ok but this situation was not entirely how she thought it would turn out and she knew that she would eventually have to inform every pair of eyes that trained hers on what she was thinking. 

“Usagi,” Ami began slowly. “Ever since we started talking about this you have been very quiet, is there something that’s making you uncomfortable about this situation? Do you think they’re evil again and that it’s a plan to trap us?” 

“NO,” she asserted quite loudly. “No, no, that’s not it… it’s just… ugh…” she said sighing and dropping her head into her hands. “They’re not evil… I’m sure they aren’t or at least they shouldn’t be… I just…” she said, struggling to find the appropriate words. “I think I know what happened,” she mumbled, her head still in her hands. 

A heavy silence fell in the room, as the reality of her statement settled over them. Seconds turned into minutes as everyone looked at each other as Usagi seemed to wrestle with whether to lift her head from her hands. Eventually Mamoru gave her a gentle squeeze and leaned his head lower, “Just tell us Usako… If you know something about all of this, it’ll be easier if you just tell us what happened.” 

Usagi nodded in her hands and slowly lifted her head, tears already streaming down her face. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know it would turn out this way,” she began with a quiver in her voice. “I swear that I didn’t know it would turn out this way. I was told there would be consequences but I didn’t expect them to lose their memories and for the universe to physically try to kill them.” 

“What did you do Usagi?” Rei said softly. “You would never do anything to endanger someone so I’m certain that it’s not that bad,” she noted scooting closer to her leader and placing a hand on her lap. “Unless you tell me that you made a deal with some sort of evil entity to revive them, then we might be in trouble,” she said trying to inject a little humour into the situation. 

“Of course I didn’t,” Usagi agreed. “I just… Let me explain what happened…” 

* * *

_ Usagi fell to her knees as the immense power finally left her. She felt exhausted from not only the emotional turmoil but the physical drain she he had to endure in defeating Beryl. It had taken all of her powers to defeat that monster along with Metalia. Thankfully, the spirit of her friends had helped her in defeating her, but she still found herself exhausted as she clutched the crescent wand in her hands. She watched the silver crystal flicking peacefully in the darkened plains surrounding her.  _

_ In a moment of weakness, she hoped that she didn’t have to fight against evil anymore and that if she could be granted a normal life, she would take it. Unfortunately, she knew she was destined to carry the burden of not only being a Senshi but also being the Moon Princess. It was a lot to take in all at once and she wished she wasn’t the one to be burdened by it all. She could hear in the distance her friends screaming for her as their voices slowly turned from whispers to louder shouts. She could see them coming in the distance and her heart broke for them even more than for herself. At least she had her Endymion to protect her and to stay by her side, her Senshi had lost their loved ones cruelly once more. Why were they always destined to lose one another? Why couldn’t they live happily ever after like in the movies? Why couldn’t the superheroes live with their loved ones? The questions and thoughts prompted her to let out a sob that had lodged itself in her throat. She cried softly as she clutched the crescent wand, she wanted the pain she was feeling to stop and most importantly, she wanted everyone to just be happy.  _

_ Tears fell down her cheeks as she thought of her friends having to live without the Shitennou as she selfishly lived her life with Mamoru. The thought almost crippled her and in a moment of weakness, she glared at the crystal before her. “All the power in the universe but you can’t even save the men my friends love,” she spat out cruelly. “What kind of fairness is that?” she questioned to no one in particular. “Why let me live in happiness but not them? They’ve sacrificed everything with no reward… none!” she cried miserably as she continued to glare at the flicking light of the crystal. “Ugh… I just can’t,” she said sobbing once more and throwing down the crescent wand on the ground. At that, a bright light erupted from the crystal enveloping her, and a faint voice could be heard echoing in her mind.  _

_ “Princess Serenity, always selfless and thinking of others before herself. If you wish to have the Shitennou reincarnated, I will grant you this wish, however, there will be consequences. Anomalies in the universe are always caught and they will be no different. Are you willing to protect them?”  _

_ Bewildered at the turn of events, Usagi shielded her eyes at the brightness before her and squinting, trying to see who was talking to her. She could see a faint outline of a woman but she couldn’t determine who it was. “W-who, who are you?” she asked quietly as the light only persisted.  _

_ “Someone who will grant your wish, Princess. Will you protect them?”  _

_ Usagi hesitated wondering if this was truly happening. She wondered whether she was hallucinating after the hard battle she had fought. There was probably no one speaking to her, so what did she have to lose by saying yes? Also, there was no evil left and this presence was emitting a warm glow, it couldn’t be evil but who was it?  _

_ “We don’t have much time, Princess. I will only grant you this one request this time. As stated, there will be consequences, the universe does like to keep things in order, however, you have deserved to be granted a reprieve for having saved the world. Will you protect them?” _

_ It’s probably a dream, Usagi thought to herself. I’m probably passed out and dreaming about what could have been? It won’t hurt if I say yes, she rationalized with herself. “O-Of, of course… We’ll protect them.”  _

_ “Their fate has been determined, their fate has been placed in your hands. Do not let history or the cycle repeat itself, Princess.”  _

_ And with that, the light intensified in degree and heat before a cosmic flare erupted knocking Usagi unconscious before dying down.  _

* * *

Usagi had always thought it was a dream, wishful thinking, a hallucination. She now realized how wrong she was and how naive she had been. She looked at Mamoru and the girls and waited for their reaction following what she remembered. When no one spoke she found herself about to go into justification mode, to justify her actions and why she would have done something so reckless. 

“I know I shouldn’t have agreed, but I wanted you all to be happy. I didn’t want you to live with the only intent to serve and protect me. You deserve love and most importantly to be loved. I thought it didn’t work or that I had hallucinated the whole thing when I couldn’t find them. I did search for the Shitennou but I never found them. They were nowhere to be found, so now that they’re here I can only assume that my wish came true. That somehow the universe granted my wish, it didn’t feel evil. The energy was warm, it was friendly… it was almost familiar. I don’t know why they don’t have their memories…”

“Consequences,” Ami offered with a small smile. “It’s ok Usagi, I don’t think any of us are mad. I just wonder why you didn’t tell us sooner? We could have looked for them with you!” 

“I thought I hallucinated the whole thing… it would have made sense if I thought something happened when it in fact didn’t. I was exhausted, you saw how I could barely function in the days following the battle. I thought it was a side effect. I never thought that it actually worked but then I started thinking, what happened if it did and then I started looking for them with no luck.” 

Ami nodded as she took in and processed the information. “My hypothesis is the consequences they’re experiencing is the memory loss. There are probably other consequences however until we get more information we can’t speculate. Unless Mamoru and Rei, you have other details you can provide.” 

“Wait,” Makoto intervened. She had been sitting quietly listening to the entire discourse and she couldn’t stay silent anymore. “Are we seriously just going to go into problem solving mode? Like, no one wants to talk about how crazy and honestly awesome it is, that we can pinpoint that Usagi brought them back? That it wasn’t some evil… that the universe is giving us a true chance at happiness! No one wants to address that?” 

Minako chimed in at that moment. “Thank gods you spoke up! I was about to pull my hair out from how clinical the conversation just got… I mean this is kind of a gift from the universe. Even if they don’t remember us, we have a chance to rekindle something that was there in two lifetimes. That’s HUGE! I get to be with Kunzite again… this is amazing, no?” 

Rei looked at them with a forced smile. “I mean yes but they don’t remember us. That’s definitely a hurdle but there’s a connection. They were receptive to what we were telling them. They didn’t shut down the idea and they seemed receptive to what we told them. So, that’s a start and I think we can build on that. There was however something very bizarre that Kunzite mentioned. He had indicated that Jadeite was being plagued by visions or life like dreams. They didn’t give many details but they did share that he seems to be living the consequences of the dreams/visions to the point where he is physically affected. They mentioned that it seemed like the universe was out to get him in someway and that “accidents” are starting to happen to Nephrite too. I can’t help but think this is a direct result to the consequences you’re mentioning Usagi…” 

Before Usagi or another could intervene, Mamoru interrupted with his thoughts. “It is as though the universe is trying to right an anomaly. It needs to take out and destroy what isn’t supposed to be here,” he said thoughtfully. “It could be a possibility that these things are happening as a direct result of the mention of consequences. Whoever warned you Usako, did mention repeatedly that you needed to protect them. Maybe, it was to protect them literally from the universe itself trying to right a wrong and have them removed from existence.” 

“Well, we can’t let that happen,” Minako said jumping to her feet followed by Makoto. “We need to make sure that we protect our little mochis and that we keep them alive!” 

“I’m with you,” Makoto stated excitedly. “I’m not going to overthink this one and just try to live in the moment for once in our lives. Does it always have to be so complicated? Let’s just keep an eye on them and make sure that we keep them all safe!” 

“It’s not that simple,” Ami interjected and was immediately cut off with a hand in her face. 

“No, let’s make it that simple Ami. Sitting around talking about what ifs won’t help us in this situation. If we only have a limited amount of time before the universe reclaims them, how about we use that time efficiently to a) protect them and b) make them remember us. OK?” 

“I don’t know if that’s such a great idea Minako…” 

“You know what Ami?” Rei said tilting her head. “I think I’m with them on this one… Let’s just try to protect them and get to know them again. Whatever happened was powered by the purest good in the universe: the silver crystal. So, let’s just trust in Usagi’s powers and let’s protect them.” 

Ami and Mamoru looked at each other not entirely convinced but without a convincing argument to discourage them from their current plan, they simply agreed. There really was nothing they could do at this very moment other than monitor the situation and ensure they kept them safe. With that thought fresh in mind the group spoke excitedly about all the different scenarios on how to make the Shitennou remember them and the conversation went well into the night, with no real plan, but a lot of passion. 


	5. Fate works in mysterious ways

Jadeite woke up the following morning feeling extremely refreshed for the first time in many months. It was the first night in several days that he slept peacefully and had no dreams or nightmares. He just had a blank slate of sleep, and felt rested unlike his previous nights. He sat up in his bed and stretched out his arms above his head and let out a small moan as his muscles unlocked slowly. He then passed a hand through his hair as he stretched to the other side of his bed to grab his phone to see what time it was. To his surprise, it was already past 9am which meant he slept through his alarm. He sighed to himself as he swung his legs over the edge of his bed and placed his sleepy feet on the ground. He once again stretched and stood up before walking towards the door. 

As he opened the door, he could hear the rest of the men in his household excitedly talking in the living room. Feigning an appearance that he was actually awake, he walked towards the others once he entered the living room and flopped down on one of the free seats. The others looked over at him cautiously, before speaking. 

“What?” Jadeite said eyeing them and noticing their silence the minute he walked into the living room. “What’s going on?” he asked, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. Had he done something stupid in his sleep last night? Had he actually had an episode and he didn’t remember? “Do I have something on my face?” he asked, placing his hand over his face and looking for the source of their suffocating silence. 

Nephrite finally spoke up, leaning back into the couch. “Nope, nothing on your face. Did you sleep well?” he asked casually as if there was no tension present in the room. 

“Well, clearly I didn’t if you’re all looking at me like that…. Did I do something? I honestly thought I woke up feeling refreshed and if you tell me I had an episode last night, I really don’t remember,” he admitted, his jittery hand going through his hair once more. 

Zoisite’s grin widened. “Oh, no episode Jed… but you were quite talkative last night. We didn’t know how to shut you up,” he said chuckling. 

Jadeite eyed the younger member before speaking. “W-What do you m-mean?” he stuttered. God, why was he stuttering he thought to himself. He honestly couldn’t remember ANYTHING from his night, not one goddamn thought. If he had been speaking in his sleep, god knows, what he was talking about. 

“You sure you don’t remember anything?” Zoisite persisted. 

“God, Zoisite, if I remembered don’t you think I would have shared it by now? I’m not feigning ignorance… I seriously don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!” 

“Ok, enough. Don’t make fun of him,” Kunzite interrupted before turning to Jadeite. “Not to embarrass you but you spent the majority of the night mumbling or talking rather loudly about Ms. Rei Hino. At one point, we thought you were actually awake but soon realized you weren’t…” 

“Oh my god…. What did I say?” Jadeite said smacking his forehead and dragging his hand down his face. Why the hell were these things happening to him? Why couldn’t they be happening to Zoisite or Nephrite? Why was he always the weird one out of the group? Why couldn’t he just sleep? That would be too easy to ask, right? 

To his horror, he watched as Nephrite and Zoisite suddenly joined hands. “Ok, no...you don’t have to act it out…” he said quickly and a little too late as the horrific shakespearean play began. 

“Oh Rei,” Zoisite said passing his hand through Nephrite’s hair as Nephrite looked up at him lovingly. “I can’t believe we found each other again… I’ve missed you more than the stars on a cloudy night. Even fate couldn’t keep us appaartt… ah…” Zoisite yelped as Jadeite practically tackled the man to the ground. 

“I’ve heard enough,” Jadeite pleaded. “You could have just said I was being cheesy as fuck and left it at that,” he said putting a hand over Zoisite’s mouth as he tried to continue his sentence. “Come on Zoi, please stop… I’m mortified already!” 

“You want us to mention that we’re pretty sure you were having more than conversations in your dreams and that we had to endure your… let’s just say pleasure in the situation all night?” Nephrite said lifting an eyebrow and chuckling loudly. 

“Oh my fucking god,” Jadeite said letting his head drop in his hands. “I’m NEVER going to sleep ever again. This is beyond ridiculous and BEYOND embarrassing. Why didn’t you try harder to wake me up?” 

“Technically, we tried… repeatedly,” Kunzite interjected calmly. “Anyway, that’s not the point, the point is clearly what Mamoru and Rei explained yesterday is true. There is no other logical explanation for why you would be dreaming or sleep talking so ardently about her.” 

“I don’t care whether it’s true or not, I’m still mortified,” Jadeite whined with his head still in his hands. 

“Oh come on Jed, a few sexy dreams vs drowning in your dreams, sounds like an upgrade, no?” Zoisite said placing a hand on Jadeite’s back, patting him. “And we’re just teasing you, we much prefer you enjoy yourself in your dreams rather than die on us, ok? So, let bygones be bygones.” 

“Easy for you to say…” 

“Actually, if I were in your shoes and I was somehow fated to be with a hot miko, and I was dreaming about her in a… pleasant way, I would be thrilled. My life is not nearly as interesting as yours!” 

“Still,” Jadeite said finally lifting his head. “You know I don’t like being the center of attention, and this is starting to get to me… It’s all too much,” Jadeite admitted. “Do we have any idea why any of this is happening?” 

“Unfortunately, that’s the million dollar question Jadeite,” Kunzite admitted. “We don’t know what’s really going on… All I can surmise is that somehow we’re all tied to each other in some sort of supernatural way. We knew we were different than other folks,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “We all have unique powers, which make us very different from regular human beings and with your dreams, we always knew there was something unique about us. I’m not surprised that we’re tied by some story of fate between a group of Senshi and they said, Shitennou. We just need to find out why you’re experiencing such intense “final destination” moments.” 

“I know…” Jadeite agreed reluctantly. “I have a theory,” he said turning to look at all of them. He had put a lot of thought into the whole situation and he didn’t like the theory, he had come up with, but he couldn’t help but think he was right. He saw the others looking at him with expectant looks and he took a deep breath. “What happens if the universe is somehow trying to erase us from existence?” he asked tilting his head. “What I mean is, Mamoru and Rei, we’re extremely surprised to see us alive. They explained that we died back in the,” he hesitated searching for the appropriate word,” Silver Millennium?” he asked for confirmation and the others nodded. With renewed confidence, he continued, “Ok, Silver Millennium, and then we died in this lifetime. Doesn’t it seem that we shouldn’t be living? That we should have died back in the battle with that crazy Beryl person? It leads me to the question of how the hell did we survive or most importantly… how we’re we revived? How did we not stay dead, when it seems like we should have died?”

“Are you suggesting the universe is trying to eliminate us from existing?” Kunzite offered. 

“Yes,” Jadeite said simply before continuing. “Odd things have started to happen to Nephrite too… don’t you think that’s bizarre?” 

“We do,” Kunzite admitted. “And we were actually speaking about this very concept before you walked in. It appears there’s definitely an external force that it toying with us. While the events that are happening to Nephrite are not as significant, he’s still experiencing them. I suspect it’s only a matter of time before the same happens to the rest of us.” 

“My question is,” Jadeite said sighing, “...why me? What’s with the order? Why would I have been chosen as the first sacrificial lamb?” 

“Ah, that we don’t know,” Kunzite admitted. “We’ll need more information from Mamoru and Rei to understand why you would be the first in the picking. It can be something as random as you’re the lucky one or something as significant as you were the first one to die in another lifetime and the battle. We don’t know. Unfortunately, we’re only pulling at straws,” Kunzite admitted. 

Jadeite nodded. He knew there was a possibility there was a picking order and that perhaps he was the first one because of some arbitrary reason. He had hoped that whatever was happening wouldn’t happen to the others but as evidenced by Nephrite’s increasing bad luck with accidents, he knew it was just a matter of time before his accidents increased in significance. Sighing, he shook his head, “This is completely frustrating and exhausting,” he admitted to the others who just nodded in agreement. 

* * *

The next few days passed in a blur and it seemed that the more Jadeite ventured outside of his apartment, the more he bumped into a certain Miko. It was as though fate was quite literally pulling them towards one another. Ordinary outings were beginning to be an excuse to bump into Rei. Jadeite couldn’t explain the meet ups but he had to admit that he wasn’t bothered by them. What he was bothered by, was his reaction to her on multiple occasions. It seemed that he couldn’t truly be himself which resulted in him making a fool out of himself which was, in his opinion, problematic. How was he supposed to impress her if he was always tongue tied or worse in the midst of being a disaster? He cringed as he recalled the worst offenses that he committed as he lay in bed trying to fall asleep. 

* * *

** _The Market _ **

_ It had been like any other market visit he was used to doing. All he needed was to pick up a new bag of rice along with spring onions. That’s all he needed as he crossed over to his favourite vendor, the one that sold the special strawberry mochi’s which he liked to sneak a taste every time he went. Truth be told, he always volunteered to go to the market because it gave him an excuse to not only get out of the house, but relish in the delicious soft mochi his favourite vendor had to offer. He smiled as she came into view waving at him.  _

_ Approaching her with an equally wide smile, he stepped up to her stall and greeted her. “Obaachan, how have you been?” he asked setting his bag on the ground. She smiled brightly at him as she explained her daily routine and how she had been having a good month with sales. Jadeite listened to her intently as she continued to animatedly tell him of the different patrons that passed by and how they couldn’t stop talking about not only the products she offered but in particular her market famous mochi.  _

_ “You know it’s the best,” Jadeite teased. “I don’t know why you always find it so surprising when everyone raves about them,” he said with a smile as he picked up a nearby bag of rice and placed it on the little wooden counter. “We can all taste the love and care you put into those sweet bites,” he continued as he looked over the mochis on display. He tried not to salivate at the mere sight of them but they were truly heavenly.  _

_ Obaachan laughed as she saw his reaction. “Oh Jadeite, you’ll never change,” she said shuffling over to the glass case that held the precious cargo. “Let me pick one for you dear,” she said as she opened the window and hesitated as she picked the mochi with the largest strawberry stuffed into the middle.  _

_ Jadeite continued smiling as she removed his chosen treat and placed it on a napkin. She knew him so well, and knew that he would devour it right there and then. He held out his greedy hands as she placed it in his hand and he sniffed the mochi taking in the fresh strawberry smell. “God, this smells so good,” he said airily as he contemplated, which side he would bite into first.  _

_ “Only the best for you my dear,” she said with a soft laugh as she watched him finally choose which side he would bite into. There was something sweet and childish over his actions for such a simple treat.  _

_ Jadeite finally bit into the mochi and strawberry taking a larger bite than he had anticipated. “S’tso sgood,” he said his mouth full as he tried to chew his generous portion.  _

_ “Jadeite?” a surprise voice asked from behind him.  _

_ _

_ Jadeite turned around quickly at the sound of his name being uttered by none other than the Miko. Like a deer caught in headlights, Jadeite’s eyes grew in size as he realized that Rei was indeed standing in front of him with a smirk on her face, evidently at his chipmunk cheeks and lack of graceful etiquette as he attempted to tame the large portion of mochi currently residing in his mouth. “Rei!” he exclaimed as he forced himself to half-chew his food and swallow as fast as possible. In his attempt to swallow quickly, a piece lodged itself in the wrong pipe which led him to be a sputtering mess.  _

_ “Oh my god, are you choking?!?” Rei exclaimed as panic visibly washed over her.  _

_ Jadeite tried to shake his head as he continued coughing and hitting his own chest trying to get the cursed piece out of his windpipe. OF COURSE, this would happen to him and no one else, he thought to himself as the offending piece of deathly daifuku clung to his throat. He tried to clear his throat to no avail as he felt a growing need to breathe.  _

_ Rei quickly put her bags down and stepped up to Jadeite, tapping him on the back in an attempt to help him. Obaachan watched on in horror as Jadeite continued to try and dislodge the food from his throat and shoo Rei away in an attempt to salvage any self-dignity he had left. Finally, Rei in her panicked state wrapped her arms around Jadeite with the intent to perform the heimlich manoeuvre. Even though Jadeite’s air supply continued to diminish, his body hummed at the intimate touch. ‘Snap out of it you idiot,’ he thought to himself as he felt Rei about to apply pressure to his chest. Before she could fully apply pressure, he felt the offending piece of shit mochi (it was now his enemy), finally move swiftly down his throat.  _

_ “Wait, wait..” he said taking in a huge breath of fresh air. “I-I’m ok,” he exclaimed as he felt Rei relax behind him.  _

_ “Thank god,” she said, letting out her own sigh of relief and placing her head on his back. “You scared me to death!!!” she stated accusingly as she continued to hold onto him.  _

_ “S-Sorry…” Jadeite apologised his voice still shaky from his ordeal. “I just swallowed wrong…” he said internally cursing his bad luck. Of course, he had to have had a lapse in chewing judgement the minute she arrived. Of course, he had to have acted like an idiot in her presence, and of course, she still had her arms around him. Wait, what, he thought to himself as he realized that she still held onto him tightly. Obaachan just looked at the two with a knowing smile plastered across her face.  _

_ “Y-you c-can let go…” Jadeite whispered as a flush spread across his already reddened cheeks. He felt her arms loosen a little bit as she realized she was holding onto him. He felt a soft sigh hit the back of his neck, sending chills up his spine. He willed himself to stay still and prevent his body from reacting to her.  _

_ _

_ “Sorry,” she said sheepishly as she let go of him and let her arms fall at her side. He felt her eyes on him as she walked around to face him and Obaachan, a pink blush marking her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around herself, “I just wanted to make sure you were ok,” she admitted. “I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable…” she said her voice trailing off, as something heavy seemed to weigh on her.  _

_ Jadeite was quick to react to her dampening mood. “No, no! I liked it!” he exclaimed without thinking. “I mean, not that I liked choking. God no, I don’t like choking.. I mean maybe in other circumstances but not like that,” he said as verbal diarrhea consumed him. “Oh god, not like that either, oh my god,” he said, his hand finding his hair as he nervously shifted. “What I meant is I didn’t mind your arms there, ya know… I mean you tried to help and you did, you DID!” he said too loudly clearly flustered. “Ugh….” he said finally giving up on trying to save himself from his foot in mouth syndrome. “Just, thank you… that’s what I’m trying to say… thank you.”  _

_ Rei let out a small laugh at the flustered man before him. “I missed that,” she whispered noting his nervous display and then clearing her throat. “Well, I’m happy I just happened to be passing by and could be of assistance,” she said with a wink. “Next, time maybe be a little more careful when you decide to eat half a Daifuku in one mouth full.” _

_ “Noted,” he said with a small chuckle. It was afterall a ridiculous situation, “and for the record, it’s not like I always choke, I do know how to eat.”  _

_ “Oh, I don’t doubt it,” she said with a smile as she picked up her bags. “From what I remember, you had quite the healthy appetite. Anyway, I have to run off to meet my grand-father, but I’ll see you around Jadeite. We have a lot to talk about,” she said giving him a quick wave before weaving through the crowd.  _

_ Jadeite simply stared as Rei effortlessly took her leave and walked away from him. From the corner of his eyes, he could see obaachan smiling and he was certain that he heard her whisper “Aw, young love” before he turned around only to find her serving another customer.  _

* * *

** _The Park _ **

_ Jadeite had never been a jogger but he decided two days ago that he needed a distraction from his life. Kunzite had suggested that perhaps he take up a hobby in order to clear his mind. Having nothing he really liked to do, other than work out and work at the gym, he decided that jogging would be a good idea. It would be an opportunity for him to disconnect from all of the complicated problems he was having and just enjoy the wind in his hair, the music in his ears and the motion of his feet hitting the ground.  _

_ He took in the impressive views of Shiba Park as he ran along the trail passing tourists, and locals. He smiled to himself as he watched couples laying on the grass enjoying picnics and each others companies. He couldn’t help but let his mind wander off to what it would be like to have a picnic with Rei and how she would react to him asking her. He smiled to himself as he picked up his speed and ran towards Momiji-dani, and took in the impressive Japanese Zelkova tree to his right. He smiled to himself admiring its beauty and stopped to take in the view with Tokyo Tower not too far away.  _

_ This had been a good idea, he thought to himself, as he took in a deep breath. The combination of fresh air and running, had been the perfect escape from his tumultuous thoughts.  _

_ “Penny for your thoughts?” a voice asked behind him.  _

_ Jadeite froze as the sound which pierced through his earphones. Maybe, he heard wrong, he thought to himself as he took out his phone and closed his music app. He slowly turned around and saw Rei smiling back at him. She was sporting workout gear, and had clearly been jogging. Her hair was tied into a messy ponytail and her light workout jacket fell gently off her left shoulder. Jadeite couldn’t help but let his gaze linger on her exposed shoulder. What he would give to touch her shoulder and trace her collarbone, to slowly trace her face, to…  _

_ “Jadeite?”  _

_ “HUH?” Jadeite’s head snapped away from staring at her shoulder blade and stared at her, like a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar. “Uh… hey,” he said with a nervous laugh as he passed a hand through his hair. “What are you doing here?”  _

_ “Same thing as you I suspect,” she said flipping part of her ponytail behind her shoulder which made her jacket fall lower down her shoulder. Jadeite’s eyes followed the movement, unable to pull his gaze away.  _

_ “Uh huh,” he said half dazedly as he forced himself to act like a normal human being. He coached himself to remove his eyes from anything below her neck. ‘Focus you pervert!’ he told himself as he stared at the violet eyes staring back at him.  _

_ “Are you ok?” Rei asked taking a step towards him.  _

_ “I’m good,” he replied quickly taking a step back. His mind and hormones were not working properly and he didn’t need her any closer, especially when he was having micro-flashes of some not so PG images flashed in his mind. He was uncertain whether they were memories or his mind playing games with him.  _

_ “I’m sorry if I bothered you,” Rei said retreating on herself, she pulled the jacket closer to herself as her face fell from an amused smile to an anxious stare. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” she admitted, “I’ll just let you be…” she said turning around to leave.  _

_ “No, wait,” Jadeite said, reaching out for her shoulder but instead he missed it entirely and grabbed her hand. He turned her back to him, “You’re not bothering me. I was just surprised that we bumped into each other here,” he admitted. “I didn’t think I’d bump into anyone during the day. I was just surprised, not unhappy to bump into you.”  _

_ Rei smiled up at him. “I’m happy we bumped into each other too,” she admitted as she let her gaze drop down to their held hands. She wanted to lace her fingers with his but she knew it would send him away like a scared rabbit. Instead, she stayed still waiting for him to make the next move.  _

_ “It’s weird,” he said looking down at her. “I know you said we know each other, that we have a huge past, and that we were… you know lovers… but why don’t I remember,” he asked honestly. “It’s extremely frustrating…” he noted in a rare instance of being completely honest with not only himself but Rei as well. “It must be difficult for you too,” he admitted, as he finally noticed that he held onto her hand. He let it go gently with a small sorry as both their hands rested awkwardly against their own bodies.  _

  
  
  


_ “It’s ok,” Rei stated softly. “I still believe you’ll remember,” she noted honestly. “You kind of have to,” she said with a small laugh. “Like, you said, it’s not fair.”  _

_ Jadeite nodded, as he fought the urge to put his hand against the side of her face and brush her lip. He needed to get out of here, he thought to himself. If he stayed any longer, he would do something that he would regret or embarass himself. “I… I need to leave.”  _

_ “I know you do,” she agreed with a small nod. She had sensed his growing unease with the situation. “I’m sure we’ll bump into each other again soon, Jadeite, or at least I hope so!”  _

_ “So, do I,” Jadeite noted before he could prevent himself from speaking. “Take care, Rei,” he said tearing his gaze from her and forcing himself to use both his legs to run away in the opposite direction. It was all too much for him and his brain needed a break from the emotions and turmoil that were currently surging in his veins.  _

* * *

** _The Crosswalk _ **

_ It had only been three day since the Shiba Park incident. Jadeite had gone home after the encounter and taken the longest cold shower he could muster. His emotions and hormones were on overdrive. It seemed that no matter what he did, he could only think about Rei or bump into her. It was slowly driving him mad that he couldn’t remember their past and that fate seemed to be pushing them closer and closer together. He wondered whether he would die from going insane or trying to figure out the mystery of his life. Why couldn’t he remember? He had tried everything to remember. He had even gone to a fortune teller, in the hopes of getting information, but she simply turned him away after she pulled the death card. Everything pointed to his ultimate demise, which only made him sigh.  _

_ It was the worst feeling walking around feeling as though your ultimate doom was waiting around every corner for you. No matter what he did, he seemed to be avoiding and welcoming death all at once. When he thought it was the end, it wasn’t and when he was comfortable, that’s when he was in the most danger. Like yesterday, when he nearly got taken out by a falling scaffolding at a construction site he was simply walking by. He had narrowly missed being hit because a black cat had distracted him. If it weren’t for that cat, he would have probably died.  _

_ “This is so messed up,” he noted slumping his shoulder. He was currently taking a walk in the hopes to clear his mind when really he probably should have locked himself in his room and just prayed that nothing bizarre would happen. Instead, he had forced himself to go outside. There was no way he was going to live his life (or whatever was left) scared and hiding in his room. The others had been of the opinion to keep him locked up but he refused. It also helped that he snuck out of the apartment when no one was there.  _

_ While Kunzite would probably have an aneurism at the fact that he left the apartment again, he didn’t care. He wasn’t some sort of caged animal. He needed to live and breathe outside, not within the confines of his room waiting for the inevitable to happen. He had come to the conclusion recently that if he was meant to die, he would die. Heck, everyone was telling him he would… so maybe he should just embrace it. Maybe then, death would leave him alone.  _

_ Jadeite turned a corner with his thoughts heavily clouded as he tried to see the positive in the situation. The only thing that he could deem as positive was Rei. She was like a ray of sunshine guiding him either knowingly or unknowingly. It was nice to know that she still cared for him and that she was waiting for the day he would regain his memories or feel comfortable enough to act upon his instincts. That thought alone forced him to live and not slip into a depression.  _

_ He came to a stop at the crosswalk before him and watched as the blinking red light told him to stay put. He watched the cars passing back and forth. Waiting patiently for the light to turn green and for the crosswalk sign to light up white, he waited. When it finally did and the chimes signified he could walk, he stepped out into the road starting to walk across the crosswalk deep in thought. As he walked a few feet, he heard a not-so distant scream of terror which sounded oddly like his name. He turned around quickly in time to see a car speeding towards him, clearly having run the red light. Frozen in fear and recognition that perhaps this was his time, his limbs stopped moving until he felt a body collide with him pushing him not only to the ground but towards the sidewalk. His body came crashing down in a loud thud, as he felt his poor muscles tighten at the impact. The air was knocked out of his lungs as his head hit the ground and another body lay on top of him breathing loudly.  _

_ Jadeite opened his eyes which he realized he had closed with the force of the impact. “Nice of you to drop by,” he said looking at back at the violet eyes he was slowly becoming accustomed to seeing.  _

_ “Oh my god, Jadeite. Do you actually have a death sentence? You need to be careful,” Rei exclaimed as she hit him in the chest. “Did you not see the car?”  _

_ “Technically, it was my right to cross,” he defended himself. “I didn’t see the car... “  _

_ “You have to be careful,” Rei said fighting back tears that threatened to fall. “If I hadn’t been there…”  _

_ “Hey, Hey,” Jadeite said gently as he lifted his hand to her face and rested it on the side. “I’m ok… You saved me, ok?”  _

_ “I know but you scared me,” Rei said, letting her head fall to his chest and giving him a quick squeeze and closing her eyes. After a few moments, when she was satisfied she heard a regular heartbeat and realized that a crowd had formed around them as they lay on the ground, she looked back up at him. “How about we just meet normally next time, please?” she said with a shaky laugh.  _

_ “I couldn’t agree more,” Jadeite nodded with an equally shaky laugh as Rei peeled herself off of him.  _

_ “Ok, let’s just meet for coffee tomorrow at Honolulu Coffee at noon tomorrow, ok?” Rei said getting to her feet and offering him a hand to stand up. He accept her hand and pulled himself up.  _

_ “Yeah, that sounds nice,” he said rubbing the back of his neck. “And if death by coffee occurs tomorrow, I won’t blame you,” he said with a laugh.  _

_ “Hey,” Rei said laughing as well. “For your information, I’ve saved you a bunch of times now… so I’m your lucky charm mister,” she said poking him in the chest. “If coffee wants to kill you tomorrow, I’ll personally decaffeinate it and then burn it to the ground with my powers,” she said with a laugh.  _

_ Jadeite’s laughter grew exponentially at the poor joke. “That sounds like a deal Ms. Hino and I look forward to it!”  _

_ “So do I, Jadeite… So do I!”  _

* * *

** _The Coffee Shop _ **

_ If Jadeite was honest with himself, he was nervous, no, he was terrified. Was this a date? Was this a casual gathering? Were others going to be there? Was it just him and Rei? Did he have to dress up? Did he have to bring anything? Did he have to treat her as a date? All the questions flooded his mind as he stood outside the cafe trying to muster the courage to enter. ‘Just enter Jadeite,’ he told himself as he readjusted his collared shirt for the hundredth time. Taking a deep breath, he opened the glass door and stepped into the Hawaiin themed cafe. He took note to the surfboards hanging from the ceiling and the rich smell of coffee hitting his nostrils. He scanned the crowd to find Rei and to his dismay, she wasn’t there yet. It was probably a blessing in disguise. It gave him some time to pull himself together and order them some drinks. He walked up to the counter and perused the menu before him. After a few moments, he finally settled on the macadamia nut flavoured coffee and ordered two. Once the barista completed his order and placed the two coffees on a tray for him, he stepped to the back of the coffee shop and put both coffees on the table. He carefully sat down in the chair facing the door and waited for Rei to arrive.  _

_ After a few moments, which left him debating whether she would show up, he saw the brunette push the large door open as she stepped inside. Her long hair fell in soft curls down her back and she wore a black leather jacket paired with dark jeans and a purple top that was a little more low cut than Jadeite felt comfortable with. He already knew it would be a distraction to him. He gulped as she waved at him and walked towards him, confidence and hips swaying.  _

_ “Ohh you got the coffees already,” Rei said smiling as she took off her jacket and sat down opposite from Jadeite. She placed her hands around the warm cup of coffee and smiled sweetly at him. “Smells delicious.”  _

_ Jadeite nodded in a trance. She looked so beautiful, he thought to himself, and smiled at her as she took a sip. “Oh this is my favourite,” she exclaimed as a blush spread across her cheeks. Jadeite’s own smile widened at the thought that he made an appropriate choice. “I’m happy that I did one thing right,” he admitted.  _

_ “You did TWO things right,” Rei said with a giggle. “1) you showed up in one piece and 2) you picked the right coffee! That’s a pretty good ratio,” she said smiling at him.  _

_ Jadeite found her smile infectious and mirrored her smile. “Well, at least I know I’m capable of doing two things right!”  _

_ Rei nodded as she took another sip and a comfortable silence fell over both of them. There was something familiar and unsettling about them being in a coffee shop together. Jadeite couldn’t help but think they had been in situations similar to this one but in a palace. He could recollect small memories of the two of them sitting in grand halls enjoying a cup of coffee or tea. He closed his eyes as he took a sip of his coffee and tried to picture the exact details but he couldn’t conjure them up. Instead, he had to settle with the feeling of familiarity and relate it to his memory loss.  _

_ “You’re deep in thought…”  _

_ Jadeite opened his eyes and stared back at Rei. “Sorry, I’m just trying to remember,” he admitted. “It all feels so familiar. I can almost recall specific details but I can’t. It’s like when you know there’s a word at the tip of your tongue but you still don’t know how to say it. Now, just apply that logic to all of my memories.”  _

_ Rei reached for his hand and gave it a small squeeze. “I’m sure you’ll remember,” she admitted, “And if you don’t… that’s ok too.”  _

_ “I beg to differ,” he confessed. “I want to remember, I want to remember you and everything we had. You know…” he hesitated before saying the next part and settled on sighing first. “... I’m conscious of what we had and what we’ve lost. It’s like there’s a piece of me missing, like an itch you can’t scratch. It’s not a great feeling and I want to scratch my itch, I want to remember you, to be able to look at you… the way you look at me,” he admitted.  _

_ Rei nodded as she listened to him and her heart went out to him. She knew how he felt because she was on the receiving end. The one with the memories and the one who couldn’t act on her impulses. She could only imagine what he was going through but at the same time, being on the end with all the memories hurt tremendously as well. She forced a smile, “You would tell me if I’m coming on too strong, right?” she said with a tint of hurt to her voice.  _

_ “Of course, and I don’t think you are,” he reassured. “I’m the problem in this equation - I feel like I’m hurtin you in the process and that’s the last thing I want to do and that’s why I’m trying to keep my distance. I don’t want to do anything to hurt you or lead you on…”  _

_ “I know,” Rei stated as she took another sip of her coffee. She forced down the tears that threatened to spill once more. Maybe, coffee had been too premature in their fragile relationship. The one on one contact was proving to be too much to her, and Jadeite sounded oddly like someone who was about to push her away. “I can leave, if you want,” she offered as she put her coffee back down. “I really don’t want you to feel like you have to get to know me. I just can’t help but feel attracted to you.”  _

_ Jadeite shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. I just meant that I might be a little slow in catching up! I have years of catching up to do and I’m awkward if you haven’t notice… and death is kind of after me,” he said with a chuckle.  _

_ “Believe me I noticed,” she said with a nod. “But anyway, you take all the time you need. I’m sure I’ll still be around when you’re ready,” she said with a wink. “But in the meantime, I do have a request. Mamoru and I were discussing this little predicament and we thought it would be a good idea to have the others i.e. the girls meet the guys. If we’re all fated, which we are, we should just rip off the bandaid and make it happen.”  _

_ “I agree. What type of meet up were you thinking of?”  _

_ “Well, I was thinking that it would be best to put all of us in a public setting to remove the awkwardness of being in a home. I feel there would be too much attention on everyone and people might shut down,” she confessed. “So, Mamoru suggested that we all meet up for a charity cruise his hospital is hosting as a fundraiser. He can get us free tickets. It would be nice for everyone to meet on their best behaviour and with no pressure. What do you think?”  _

_ Jadeite mulled it over for a few seconds and agreed that a public place would be best. He also agreed that a function in which both groups were not obliged to hang out all evening would be a good idea. What concerned him the most though was the venue… did she say a cruise? A cruise would imply: water and lots of it. That was potentially problematic. A chill passed down his spine as he contemplated the idea further. “When is this cruise and how far out is it going?”  _

_ “It’s in two nights and it’ll be cruising along Tokyo Bay,” she admitted. “Look Jed,” she said reaching for his hand again. “I’m sure everything will be okay,” she said reassuringly. “You can’t live your whole life behind closed doors. Plus, all of us will be there... “ she noted and whispered, “all the Senshi will be there and your Shitennou… you will be safe.”  _

_ “Hmm…” he said contemplating the idea. “Easy to say but what happens if something goes wrong?”  _

_ “Look, there’s no storms planned, no evils around, there’s nothing. Unless, you willingly throw yourself off the boat, you’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it!”  _

_ Jadeite wanted to believe Rei but there was something deep inside of him telling him to say no. That this was a bad plan, that this was going to lead to his death. He looked at Rei’s encouraging eyes and saw that she truly believed everything would be ok. He had to believe her, right? With another deep breath and a little resolve, he said, “Ok, if you say so. I trust you.”  _


	6. Fate: A self-fulfilling prophecy?

Jadeite found himself clad in a black suit with a crisp white shirt. He had opted to forego the tie and left his top two buttons open. Kunzite had rolled his eyes and called him a slob but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to feel stuffy tonight. He wanted to be comfortable if he was forced to wear a suit. He suspected this whole night would be awkward and if he was going to be uncomfortable mentally, then he would damn well be comfortable in his clothing. 

“Man, why are you so nervous?” Zoisite said shifting his weight towards Jadeite. They were currently waiting on the dock for the girls to arrive with Mamoru. “You look as stiff as that poll over there,” he said with a laugh. 

Jadeite rolled his eyes. “I’m allowed to be nervous… am I the only one that recognizes we’re sending me on a boat in the middle of the ocean? This is a pretty bad plan, and I hate that I’m the only one that recognizes that.” 

“Come on Jed,” Zoisite said wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “Nothing is going to happen. All of us are here plus some fancy Senshi, so you should feel more comfortable than usual. So, calm down and just enjoy the night. Maybe, you can finally make the big move on Rei or at least ADMIT to her that you like her. I don’t know why you keep her at an arm's distance. If I had my way, I would be all over her.”

“You’re always so crude Zoisite, I don’t know why you think this is a game. There’s emotions involved and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to just throw yourself into this situation, ok?” he said lifting an eyebrow. “And, if you think you’re capable of doing that. Here’s your chance, they’re all coming over here,” he said pointing to the crew of Senshi walking towards them along with Mamoru. 

“Sorry we’re late,” Mamoru said bowing slightly as he reached the four men. “We hit some traffic on our way over,” he admitted as he wrapped an arm around Usagi’s waist. 

“It’s not a problem,” Kunzite extended as he looked to the women standing behind the couple at the front. “I guess introductions are in order…” 

“You sure bet they are,” Minako chimed in as she stepped from behind Mamoru. “I’m Minako,” she said flipping her hair as she approached Kunzite, almost like a predator. “You’ll be wanting to talk to me tonight!” she said with a wink. 

Not one to be overly emotional or at ease with forward advances, Kunzite smiled awkwardly at Minako. “It’s a pleasure,” he finally managed as he extended his hand. “I’m Kunzite…” 

“OH, honey, I know who YOU are,” she said booping him on the nose. “Let’s get on this cruise ship and get acquainted again.” 

“Um, I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave before all the introductions,” Kunzite admitted. 

“Oh shush,” Minako said linking her arm with Kunzite’s. “That’s Ami, and Makoto… you already know Rei, Mamoru, and OH, that’s Usagi… Moon Princess, defender of the universe blah blah blah. I know you heard the story, so let’s go handsome. You owe me a drink!” 

“I-I do…?” he stuttered as he was pulled away from the others. He looked back at them at a loss and urged one of them to help him but instead of being met with help everyone chuckled. 

“Have funnnn Kunzite!” Zoisite said waving as their leader was taken away against his will. “She’s spunky,” he noted. “I like that,” he said with a hearty laugh. “She knows what she wants and she just took him almost by the literal balls!” 

Nephrite hit him. “Don’t be crude…” 

Zoisite imitated Nephrite in a patronizing tone. 

Nephrite rolled his eyes. “Please ignore him, he’s a bit much sometimes… He means well but then again you must all know that!” 

Ami smiled shyly in the background and let out a giggle. “Yes, we do. He can be serious though…” 

Zoisite looked for the voice and saw the beautiful blue haired goddess standing beside a taller brunette. He let his eyes linger on her as he took in her full appearance. “I’m sorry,but did I miss your name?” he admitted as he stepped towards her. 

“It’s Ami,” she confirmed as she looked between her hands and his eyes. 

“Pretty,” Zoisite said both for her name and her. 

Before anyone could reply, there was a call to have everyone board the ship for departure. Mamoru looked to all of them, happy to be herding the cats all in the same direction. He had a feeling tonight was going to be a disaster and that by the end of the night, there would not only be confusion but that some would be scarred i.e. Kunzite. 

“Let’s head in,” Mamoru said motioning for them to all board. “We can continue this enlightening conversation once we’ve boarded.” 

Everyone nodded in agreement as they slowly walked towards the boarding entrance. Jadeite chanced a look at Rei and was surprised to find her looking back at him. She mouthed a quick, ‘you look good’ and she looked away before he could respond. Jadeite immediately let the blush travel across his cheeks and felt oddly warm in his coat. All thoughts of dying suddenly disappeared, and he focused on the fun evening they were about to have. He was excited to spend more time with Rei and for his friends to meet the other girls. It seemed they would all be easily drawn to one another. He could already see Zoisite trying to start a conversation with Ami and Nephrite was talking to Mamoru while Makoto looked on. He could only imagine how this night would end. Maybe, this would be the catalyst for all of them to regain their memories. Maybe, by exposing themselves they would actually be doing a service to putting themselves in a position to remember. At this point, all he could do was hope for a positive outcome vs. a negative outcome. 

The only thing that nagged him was that he felt a little off, like he was coming down with something. He cleared his throat subconsciously and felt a chill travel down his back. He looked up at the sky and noted there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was just perfect, so why was he so cold. He buttoned up his blazer and let another chill pass through him. ‘Great’ he thought to himself as he realized that he might actually be coming down with something. He inwardly rolled his eyes at himself and followed the others. For now, he would ignore the nagging headache that was starting and just focus on having a good time and squashing his feelings of dread. 

* * *

The night cruise ship slowly pulled away from the dock leaving a crowd of bystanders watching the magnificent ship move out of the harbor. Some children took the opportunity to wave at the ships attendees, while others ran along trying to outrace the steady departure of the cruiseliner. 

Jadeite watched with fascination the twinkling lights shining brightly that lined the harbor and couldn’t help but appreciate the beautiful city lights. Tokyo, a city that never sleeps, truly deserved its name as he saw the tall skyscrapers standing proudly along with Tokyo Tower in such a display that tugged at his heart. He watched as they continued to move steadily away from the city and towards the open waters. 

A hand on his shoulder, startled him out of his thoughts and forced him to pull his gaze away from the beauty that lay before him. Instead, he landed his eyes on Zoisite’s cocky smile and tilted his head in amusement. “Yes?” he said reluctantly as Zoisite continued to arch an eyebrow. 

“Come on Jed, let’s go get some drinks and find our fated girls,” he said cocking his head towards the outdoor bar. “No point in stargazing tonight,” he said with a chuckle, “it’s time that we got our flirt on, and got some action,” he said with an accompanying wink. 

Jadeite rolled his eyes at the theatrics of his best friend. “Fine,” he said straightening out his shirt. “I do want to see and speak to Rei… Every encounter I continue to have with her is interesting to say the least,” he admitted as he watched Zoisite’s grin grow bigger. 

“Yeah, interesting isn't the word I would use for it,” he said mockingly. “You could have chosen a multitude of other words: you got the hots for her, you want to see more of her feisty side, you’re already in love, you’re… hmmphhh…” Zoisite stopped abruptly as a fist connected with his ribs and a threatening cease and desist look appeared on Jadeite’s face. 

“If you wanted to date me, all you had to do was ask,” the fiery miko giggled as she passed by with two of her friends. “No, need in prolonging the inevitable,” she said winking at Jadeite as she continued to walk past him. Her flirty nature made her all the more enticing Jadeite thought to himself as she didn’t even make an attempt to stop and talk to him. No, Rei Hino, was more of a tease than that and wouldn’t let Jadeite off the hook. Ever since their coffee date, she had played coi with him. It’s as though she had decided that playing hard to get would be a better tactic then approaching him. Yes, they had had multiple interactions which were embarrassing but since the coffee shop, it seemed like she had resolved to play hard to get and it was driving him nuts. If she had tried to make him want her more, it worked but he wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.

“Uh… yeah well maybe I DON’T want to date you,” he said a little too loudly and a little too awkwardly. Red spread from his cheeks to the tips of his ears as he lowered his gaze from her. Why did he always have to be an idiot in her presence, WHY? 

Rei simply turned around and blew him a kiss. “Sure, honey, sure!” she said winking at him and turning around again to continue her exit. “I’ll see you later,” she said waving at him from behind, “And I like champagne if you’re interested in buying me a drink. I’ll be waiting for you to swing by,” she said with an airy laugh as she finally disappeared into the crowd. 

Jadeite let out an audible groan. “Ugh… WHY did you have to say that out loud?” he said putting both his hands through his hair. “She’s never going to take me seriously now…” he said throwing his hands down, along with his shoulders slumping.

Zoisite laughed at the display and patted Jadeite on the back. “Are you blind? That girl has sent you every signal in the book for a date and all you can do is sputter that you don’t want to date her, YET, you won’t shut up about her at home OR whenever you see her,” he said rolling his eyes. “How about you man the fuck up and ask her out already? A girl like that isn’t going to wait forever whether its fate or not, believe me. Oh, and if you don’t believe me, maybe I’ll have no issue swooping in for the kill,” he said with a crooked grin. 

“You’re so fucking annoying sometimes,” Jadeite said shaking his head and walking towards the bar.

“It’s because I’m right,” Zoisite stated as he quickened his pace to catch up to Jadeite. “I’m always right and heck, you even said YOURSELF she’s the girl of your LITERAL dreams. How about you test out that theory Casanova and finally give yourself a chance with her!” 

Jadeite contemplated Zoisite’s words carefully as he came to a stop at the small line up for the bar and put a nervous hand through his hair. It was precisely for THAT reason, that he was nervous. It meant that she was someone important to him and he didn’t want to screw it up. It didn’t help that half the time he spoke to her, he experienced flashes of memories he had NO recollection of. If he were to put himself in a situation to finally date her, what would happen? Would his nightmares come to life? Would he be endangering her too? If so, he would rather not take the chance especially that she seemed to be just as interested in him.

“What can I get for you?” the voice of the waiter broke through his thoughts. 

“I’ll get a whisky on the rocks,” he said grabbing for his wallet. 

“And he’s going to take champagne too,” another far too happy Zoisite sounding voice echoed. 

“Zoi, I swear to the gods I will…” 

Before, Jadeite could argue further Zoisite had already moved between himself and the bartender nodding confirmation to both drinks. “So, a whisky on the rocks and champagne, it is,” the bartender said as he started to prepare the two drinks. 

“Well, Jed, I swear that if you don’t bring this to her right now, I will personally throw you over the railing of the ship and kill you myself,” he said playfully. 

“That’s really harsh considering being on this boat is my biggest fear Zoisite…” Jadeite mumbled as he looked towards the edge of the boat. Truthfully, it had taken him all of his courage to step onto the ship. If it hadn’t been for Rei, he would have never agreed to come. For all he knew, he could be walking towards his own death and there was nothing settling about that to him.

“Don’t be such a drama queen,” Zoisite said rolling his eyes once more, and grabbing both drinks from the bartender once he had paid. “Now, let’s go find your girl and get you some action for once.” 

Jadeite shook his head out of frustration, but also because he was losing his will to fight. He really did want to have a conversation with Rei and ask her about her dreams. In a moment of pure adrenaline and resolve, he grabbed both drinks from Zoisite. “Fine, you’re right. You’re right. I just need to rip off the fucking bandaid and do it. I do like her and so be it if it’s a trap,” he said turning on his heels and walking in the direction Rei had gone with her friends. It was a rare moment of courage for Jadeite and he wasn’t going to waste it on Zoisite’s mocking grin. 

Zoisite watched him leave chuckling to himself as he followed closely for not only moral support but to ensure Rei’s friends, who were ALWAYS around, got the hint to leave the lovebirds alone. Yes, there might have been a reason or two on why he wanted their attention, but primarily it was to give Jadeite a chance to at least say more than two words without an audience. 

Slowly Jadeite approached, his courage slightly faltering, the closer each step brought him to Rei. Finally, he stopped 2 feet from her and cleared his throat. That should get her attention, he thought to himself as he replayed several cheesy chick flicks in his mind. The men were always able to command attention with a simple clear of the throat or perhaps a little nudge. He needed to be his own leading man and make sure that he at least got her attention, and it’s with that optimistic desire that he smiled sweetly as she turned her attention to him. 

“You said you liked champagne,” he said somewhat awkwardly as their eyes locked and he attempted to hand her the glass. 

A smile graced her lips as she took in the man before her. While she was surprised he actually walked over to her and spoke, without an incident, she couldn’t help a small chuckle from escaping her lips. “I believe I did reiterate that quite loudly,” she said taking the glass from him and observing the rising bubbles. “I’m happy that you decided to  _ actually  _ come over,” she said sweetly as her eyes fell on his once more. 

Jadeite couldn’t help the sigh from falling off of his lips. “I can’t help it,” he said shrugging his shoulders with a laugh, trying to camouflage his real reason for his unrest. Whenever he was around Rei it’s as though his body had an almost physical reaction to her presence. He felt a need to be closer to her, to touch her, to be with her. There was some sort of magnetic force bringing her towards him and he didn’t care to know the reasons behind it. He figured there was no good for his intense attraction to her. 

“Jadeite,” Rei interrupted noticing that he seemed to be lost in thought. “Earth to Jadeite,” she said waving her hand slightly in front of his face. He refocused on the action and shook his head, trying to clear it of the jumbled thoughts that were continuously forming. ‘You should say something nice,’ he thought to himself, almost coaching himself to act like a normal human being, and not a mess of a man. 

“Sorry, I was just thinking how lovely you look tonight,” he said earnestly taking in her appearance, “red is a good colour on you.” As the words fell out of his mouth, he registered their significance along with her appearance. ‘Wait a minute…’ he thought to himself as he really truly took in her appearance. He let his eyes take in her  _ floor length red dress _ which hugged in all of the right places and cascaded down to the floor. Panic started to prickle across his skin as he realized the significance of her appearance. Things were starting to piece themselves together and he didn’t enjoy their outcome, the very real outcome that potentially what always manifested itself as a dream would actually become reality. 

In his moment of panic, he completely missed Rei’s response and forced himself to ask her to repeat again. He tried to focus on what she was saying but instead he was focusing on the problematic truth that he was a) on a boat b) Rei was wearing a red dress and c) they were sailing out to sea. All of these added up to only one potentially massive problem: This was most likely his time to die. If he wasn’t careful by the end of the night he would drown and meet his ultimate demise. He knew he was right, he should have never accepted, ever. But now he found himself, heading towards the outskirts of the bay with no hope of finding solid ground until they docked again. 

He only hoped that the fear bubbling in his stomach was temporary and that he was only overreacting and that it meant nothing that Rei was wearing the  _ exact  _ dress from his dreams. Heck, maybe she always wore red, yes, that was a rationale though. Maybe, she did.


	7. Going Down

“Jadeite, are you ok?” Rei asked as she watched his colour drain from his face. She never remembered him being seasick in the past but then again they had limited exposure to boats. She placed her champagne flute on the nearby table and put a hand to his cheek. “Hey, answer me are you ok?” she reiterated as his eyes slowly gravitated to hers. “You feel like you’re burning up…” 

“Rei, I’m sorry but I need to get off of this boat, I can’t be here,” he said looking at her. “Everything is slowly going to come true,” he said trying to push her hand away from his face and made to turn away from her. Instead, she grabbed his hand and turned him back towards her and placed both her hands on the side of his face.

“No, Jadeite… first you can’t leave we’re already sailing off,” he said pointing her eyes to the disappearing shoreline, “and second, I told you that I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Why won’t you believe me that I’ll protect you? I’ve been doing it since we met…” she noted truthfully with a hint of hurt. “Just believe me when I say that I would never let anything happen, ok?” 

Jadeite looked at her and saw the sincerity in her gaze. “I know you  _ want  _ to protect me but there’s more at play here than you wanting to protect me. Something is actively trying to kill me and the very real fact that you’re wearing that dress if freaking me out,” he admitted as he took both of her hand in his hands. “I can’t let this happen or if it’s going to happen I can’t be around you… You’re too much a part of my dream,” he said letting her hands fall to herself. “I’m sorry but I just can’t do this right now,” he said turning away for real this time. 

He didn’t chance a glance back because he knew that if he did, he would regret his move immediately. Truth was, he wanted to stay with her and believe that she could protect him but he couldn’t believe that she was right, not when she always failed in his dreams. He continued weaving through the crowd and locked eyes momentarily with Zoisite who gave him a “WTF” look as he simply shook his head and continued moving through the crowd. He couldn’t be out on the deck, he needed to go inside and gather his thoughts. Being here was overwhelming and he felt his anxiety increasing by the second. 

Pushing through the double french doors to the dining room, he walked in greeted by what appeared to be hundreds of couples enjoying a lovely evening. He continued to weave through them until he found the end of the grand hall, and saw a sign for the washroom. At least there, he would be able to gather his thoughts. He pushed through the door and was content when he realized there was no one present. Walking towards the mirror, he placed both his hands on the edge of the sink and tried to regulate his breathing. It was ridiculous that he feared this boat so much but he always had a feeling this was a bad plan, and now that he confirmed his greatest fear, he realized that he most likely willingly walked to his death. How stupid was he? Who in their right mind would have willingly taken a boat when they knew drowning was their death? He let out a groan as his head dropped to his chest and he closed his eyes. ‘Pull yourself together man,’ he tried to coach himself. This was one of those moments when he needed to reel in his anxiety but he couldn’t seem to appease his brains need to believe this was his end. His anxiety only spiked further when he caught a glimpse of his pants; they had always been black in the dream. The only redeeming factor was that he had his shoes on still… in the dream he had no shoes. He couldn’t rationalize ANY reason why he would take off his shoes or his jacket for that matter. 

In order to curb his anxiety and prevent a full blown panic attack, he rationalized that he would never take off his shoes or jacket. If he kept everything in tact then he would be safe, right? If he just stayed even in this bathroom he would be ok, right? It was those two comforting thoughts that managed to slow down his breathing significantly as he felt the urge to scream and tear apart the bathroom. Truth was, he had never felt so helpless and pathetic in his entire life. At least, if there was a real physical threat, he could fight it but with an invisible enemy there wasn’t much he could do to retaliate. It was either that he was completely unlucky or there was really an external force working to kill him. His mind settled on the latter of the two. 

“...Are you ok?” 

Jadeite stilled at the voice unable to move from his hunched position over the sink. He noticed his fingers had turned white from holding on tightly. Unable to move, he decided to ignore the newcomer. They would eventually leave if he just ignored them. 

“Look man, I’m worried about you,” the familiar voice pierced through his thoughts once more. “Can you just talk to me? If we need to get you off this boat, we will, ok?” 

“Zoisite…” Jadeite exhaled. “I feel like I’m going crazy, can you just leave me alone, ok? I don’t need you as comedic relief right now or to give me a pep talk. I just want to be by myself, ok?” 

“I can’t just leave you like this Jed…” Zoisite said stepping forward. “I know I’ve taken everything lightly until now but you’re freaking me out. I’ve never seen you react this strongly about something… Do you honestly believe something will happen? I mean, how can something happen when you’re literally under everyone's protection? You have literal warriors of the universe that are willing to keep you safe. Do you honestly think they’d let you get even an inch into that water? Do you think that I would let it happen or any of the guys? Come on, Jed. You know we wouldn’t let anything happen to you. You’re too important to us and while we’ve been beyond freaked out the past few months, we finally feel some relief knowing that these Senshi are around to keep you safe and frankly, to keep all of us safe. Even Nephrite isn’t as freaked out anymore…” 

“You haven’t lived these dreams..” 

“You’re right,” Zoisite agreed. “I haven’t but I sure as hell have lived through the pure terror of seeing you unconscious and not breathing. That should count for something. Yes, I’m not the one experiencing it but I’m the one seeing it happen and we always helped you. Why can’t today be the same? Just trust us and let us keep doing our jobs. I don’t know how many times I can tell you, we won’t let anything happen.”

“Easy for you to say,” Jadeite said finally lifting himself up and turning around to face Zoisite. “I’m trying not to overreact and you know, I’m not an overreactor but this is hitting too close to home for comfort…” 

Zoisite took in Jadeite’s pale face and his overall disheveled appearance. He also took note to the sweat lining his forehead. “Jed, you ok? Like, are you feeling ok? You look like shit…” 

“Not helping Zoisite,” Jadeite growled as he passed a hand through his hair. He did notice that he felt shaky but he attributed it to his anxiety. “I feel like shit because I’m in a frenzy, ok? Satisfied? I’m the weak one…” he said wiping his brow and rolling his eyes. He noted that his hand was damp, and thought ‘great now I’m fucking crying,’ but upon further inspection he realized he was just sweating. 

“Here,” Zoisite said approaching him. “Let’s take off your jacket, ok? I think you’re burning up. Did you feel ok before getting on the boat?” 

The right answer would have been to say no but Jadeite, being the ever stubborn man that he was stated a simple no. It was a lie but he didn’t care, his mind was a mess and his body was starting to ache. Talk about a good time to fall fucking sick, he thought to himself as he shooed Zoisite away. “I’m fine, I’m fine…” he said getting the younger man away from him. 

“I don’t think you are, why are you always so stubborn?” Zoisite noted rolling his eyes and taking out his cellphone. He sent a quick text message to Kunzite advising him he had found Jadeite and that they had a slight complication on their hands. Maybe, it wasn’t the water that would kill him but something else. 

“I need fresh air,” Jadeite noted all of a sudden as he tried to straighten himself out. The bathroom felt suffocating with Zoisite in there and he felt like his shirt was clinging to him. 

“Really? That’s your best choice right now?” he asked incredulously. “After your whole speech, you want to go outside? How about we just veto that right now, ok?” 

“Meh…” Jadeite said defiantly. “I just need to get out of here, ok?” he said walking past him and out of the washroom. Zoisite followed closely as Jadeite walked slowly along the wall. He really did feel dizzy now that he was moving about. How did that even happen? he thought to himself as he continued walking. With a sigh, he noticed Kunzite and Rei coming towards him. Great, more reinforcements that he didn’t need, he thought to himself as he finally found a free chair at one of the tables and flopped down on it. He was done walking away, when did his head start to hurt so much and why was his jacket so clingy, he thought, as he peeled it off, revealing that his shirt was stuck to him. 

“Are you ok?” Rei said dropping to her knees beside Jadeite. “You scared us all by running off like that,” she admitted as she permitted herself to put a hand to his forehead. “You’re burning up…”

“I’m fine…” he lied once again. “Don’t worry about me, remember it’s drowning that’ll kill me, not a little flu,” he said with a lopsided smirk. My god did his head feel heavy, he thought to himself as he leaned forward and placed his arms crossed on the table. “I think I just need a little nap, to sleep this off,” he admitted and rested his head. 

Rei looked up at Kunzite and Zoisite who looked on as Jadeite quite literally made himself more comfortable for a nap. “Did you drug him? Or is he drunk?” Rei asked standing up and straightening her dress from the creased that formed. “He seems completely out of it…” 

“I found him like that,” Zoisite admitted. “I don’t know what’s going on…” 

“Well, did no one notice if he was feeling ill before getting on the boat?” Rei questioned. “To me, he looked fine but it’s not like a had a huge opportunity to speak with him before he freaked out and left me.” 

Kunzite rolled his shoulders. “Look, his mental health hasn’t been the greatest since all of this started. I did notice he seemed more sluggish than usual when we were getting ready but there was nothing alarming. Also, he doesn’t do the greatest with alcohol because his tolerance is quite low. This could just be a combination of his nervous and the alcohol for all we know, albeit, it doesn’t explain why he’s burning up. At this point, I would just suggest that we keep an eye on him and make it through the night by keeping him here. He’s not bothering anyone and as long as he doesn’t venture off on his own, he should be fine. Then when we dock, we can find a doctor to take a look at him.” 

Rei nodded reluctantly. She looked over Jadeite’s slumped form. She watched as his breathing slowed considerably as his back rose and fell in a rhythm signifying he had fallen asleep. 

“This isn’t good,” Zoisite noted. “Is anyone else getting a feeling that we’re going into some sort of twilight zone and that bad shit is going to happen? Am I the only one who’s getting that feeling because if you’re not, I suggest you start getting a feeling of dread.” 

“You’re being dramatic Zoisite,” Kunzite noted. “While there is a possibility for things to go wrong, it’s much better that he has the flu than drowning. These are two entirely separate things. Now, how about someone comes with me to find a doctor on this ship. They should be able to assist with this little problem…” 

“You guys go ahead,” Rei stated as she sat down beside Jadeite. “I’ll keep an eye on him.” 

Kunzite nodded and nudged Zoisite to follow him. Both men walked away sparing a single glance back to ensure everything was under control. 

* * *

Half an hour had passed since Kunzite and Zoisite left as Rei put her hand to Jadeite’s forehead and felt that he was still burning up, if not more than before. With a sigh, she looked around for any sign of the men but they were nowhere to be found. She knew that Jadeite would benefit from a cold compress and decided to quickly go get one. She looked at Jadeite and placed a loving hand through his hair. She moved his bangs out of his face and saw his peaceful face, albeit flushed, but peaceful. She let out a sigh and leaned forward to place a small kiss on his forehead. “I’ll be right back… just hang in there,” she said before taking her leave to get the compress. 

Jadeite stirred at the gentle touch and opened his eyes. He was disoriented as to where he was and after a few moments of searching his memory as to where he could be, he realized he was still on the cruise ship. He slowly lifted his head, regretting it almost immediately as nausea threatened to make him empty his stomach. Passing a hand over his face, he looked for any familiar person but he couldn’t find them. Taking a deep breath, he found that the air around him was stuffy and that he craved fresh air instead. No matter how many deep breaths he took, he felt that he was unable to quench his thirst for air. As a result, he lifted himself from his seat and dragged his aching limbs towards the double doors which led to the deck. 

Within moments, Jadeite stumbled onto the deck, with an extreme want for needing fresh air. His head felt as if it was going to split open if he stayed indoors any longer. He walked slowly to one of the benches that lined the deck of the cruise ship and sat down. He placed his elbows on his thighs and rested his head in his hands as he watched the city lights flicker by. While his vision was blurry from his massive migraine and the fever that relentlessly held on, he found beauty in the lights before him. Tokyo was beautiful. It had always been a city that attracted him and he couldn’t help being enthralled as he saw the skyscrapers come in and out of focus. It was too bad, he had never been able to see the Silver Millennium in such a way, he thought fleetingly. 

Closing his eyes, he tried to recall his previous life and when his memory drew only blanks, he sighed sadly. His life was truly miserable, if he was honest with himself. The only glimmer of hope was Rei. She seemed patient and willing to wait for him as his broken mind played tricks on him. Sighing once more he wished he could remember her and all of the good times they must have shared. He always noticed the way she looked at him with a hint of pity but most importantly, he always saw the love she had for him. It was that look and specifically the love that emanated from her, that made him feel all the more guilty. How could he forget such a wonderful goddess as her? How could his mind have simply tossed her aside when she was supposed to be the light of his life? He could already tell that if he just let himself fully accept her and his own flaws, he would be happy. That she would accept him as is. They would rebuild from the ground up. While it would be unfair for her to have memories of their previous lives, he wondered whether he was ok with knowing only the half truth. In the end it had to be better than not knowing her or the others at all. 

“So unfair…” he babbled, as he continued to be lost in his thoughts and the lights flickering before him. 

“Jadeite!” 

Jadeite heard his name and lifted his head from his hands. He recognized that voice from anywhere, it was most definitely Rei. He looked around and tried to see where the voice was coming from. 

“JADEITE!” 

“JADEITE!” 

The voice was louder now, almost frantic, and he didn’t like it. It sounded like she was in danger, like she needed help. He forced his stiff limbs to move into a standing position and he searched for the source of the voice. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see her anywhere. “Rei?” he asked as the world spun around him, lights dazzling him once more as he grabbed onto one of the pillars on the deck. If he wasn’t careful, he thought he might be sick. 

“JADEITE!!” 

“JADEITE!!” 

Again the voice that burned through his ears. Why did she sound so panicked? Where was she? he thought as he stumbled closer to the edge of the boat. He was certain he heard her voice from there. Grabbing the railing with both hands, he peered into the dark waters of the ocean in front of him. The lights reflected on the cascading waves that hit the boat in a peaceful rhythm. Forcing his eyes to search the dark waters, he looked for her voice. There was no way she could be out there but he was certain he had heard her voice. “Rei?” he called out again as he looked not only in front of him but behind him as well. He noticed the deck was mostly empty and wondered where most people retreated to. A flickering thought in the back of his mind told him that he should join the others but he couldn’t leave Rei out here alone. 

“Jadeite…” 

It was softer this time and he cocked his head back to the ocean. Why did it sound like it was coming from there, he thought. “Rei…? Where are you?” he asked as he trained his eyes on the dark waves. In an instant and with a horrific realization, he saw a flash of red rise up from the water. The red billowing pattern of her dress moved swiftly in the water, and Jadeite couldn’t help but let out an audible gasp. Without hesitation he grasped harder onto the railing in front of him, mumbling to himself that she just needed to wait for him, and that he would save her, as he placed one foot over the other as he climbed over the railing. Unthinking and without thought, he sprung off of the rails hitting the frigid water in a resounding clap; darkness immediately taking over.

* * *

“I don’t KNOW where he is,” Rei wailed as Kunzite hounded her for the 3rd time about Jadeite’s whereabouts. “I swear he was there not even 5 minutes ago. He can’t be far, do you really think I would have let him wander off? He was SLEEPING! All I did was go get him a damp cloth because his fever is out of control. That’s all I did… I swear…” 

“Clearly, in those 5 minutes he managed to wake himself up and wander away from us,” Zoisite replied in an annoyed tone. “He could be anywhere - this ship is enormous.” 

“Let’s check outside,” Kunzite noted calmly. “Zoisite, you said he kept on wanting fresh air… perhaps he did just that and wandered off to the deck.” 

“That fucking fool better not have done that,” Zoisite cursed as he started running towards the patio doors. He looked back at the two as they followed closely, “I swear if he did something stupid, I’ll kill him myself,” he exclaimed as he pushed through the doors. 

The three of them stumbled onto the main deck and saw no signs of Jadeite. “Let’s just split up,” Rei commanded as she ran off onto the right side of the ship and the other two ran in different directions. Rei searched high and low for any signs of Jadeite. As she continued her search, with no signs of finding him, her heart rate increased significantly. ‘Where can he be?’ she questioned as she turned another corner looking for him. To her dismay, he didn’t appear to be on this side either. She stopped in her tracks, hands on her knees as she took her breath. Panic was bubbling to the surface as she looked to her right and peered at the metal bars that separated her from the waters below. 

“No…” she said matter of factly not allowing her mind to wander to it’s darkest place. It wasn’t possible that he somehow fell overboard. There was security everywhere, he had been with them up until minutes ago, how could he have fallen overboard? It just wasn’t a possibility, but then again she rationalized, did any of this make sense? She moved towards the railing and forced herself to look at the water. Relief hit her immediately, as she realized there was no body floating for her to see. Instead, she noticed how brightly the moon shined today and while, it usually gave her comfort, today it felt almost ominous. She looked at the moon and the unnatural light it was shining down on her and she felt a chill pass down her spine. Something wasn’t right. She looked to her left as she heard a resounding echo of a splash. 

“Oh my god…” Rei exclaimed, clasping both her hands over her mouth. She was certain she had just heard a splash. Fear spread across her limbs as she forced herself to move towards the source of the sound. She rounded the corner and was met with no one, instead she forced her trembling hands to grip the railing nearby and peered over. She had just enough time to see a flash of blonde as a horrific expression spread across her face. She held back a sob, as she realized that there was indeed someone in the water… 

“It’s not him, it’s not him, it’s not him,” she chanted as she proceeded to take off her shoes anyways. No matter how much she chanted, she knew it was him. It had to be. He had been so scared, so scared that this would happen, and here it was… happening. Tears fell down her cheeks, as she gripped the railing tighter, forcing her limbs to work as the crippling anxiety of her vision coming to life danced before her eyes. 

_ She had seen this. She remembered her fear, her resolve and most importantly, Jadeite’s body submerged in water. _

Not taking any chances or wasting any more time, she jumped.

* * *

The minute Jadeite hit the water, he knew he had made a poor decision. The frigid water lapped over his skin as he fought to keep his head above the surface. In his panicked state, he looked for Rei but there was no sign of her. Instead, he forced himself to submerge his head and open his eyes in an attempt to search for her under water. Immediately, his eyes stung as the salt water infiltrated his eyes and he let out a cry. Resurfacing he searched again to see where Rei could have gone, he was certain that he had seen her. Certain that she had somehow fallen in the water. As he moved clumsily through the water, he started to feel an extreme fatigue wash over him. He didn’t know if it was as a result of his impending flu or fate willing him to lose his fight. 

He had never been a good swimmer, and with waves washing over him, he realized that he was in a losing battle. His arms ached and his head continued to throb. Jadeite stopped moving for a moment to catch his breath, and found that his head started to submerge immediately. Panic once again found him and he fought to stay above the water, without much success. His legs were cramping, his chest ached and his arms barely functioned. He felt like he was in quicksand and it was pulling him under faster than he could react. He had only been in the water for a minute or two but it felt like an eternity to his weakened body. He let out an exhausted cry as his body fought against his mind. His mind was ready to put up a fight but his body kept on giving out as water washed over his head and he found himself most of the time under water rather than floating. 

He let out an exhausted sigh, as water once again filled his mouth and he coughed. His arms and legs were cramping against the cold water and he found that he was feeling heavier by the second. Before he could take a proper breath, another wave hit him, and he found himself being pushed downwards. He tried to fight to stay afloat but his body felt like it was stuck in molasses. He heard the screams at the last second, the muffled screams of his name and he wanted to laugh. Laugh at the situation he found himself in, that his dream was finally coming true. 

He also wanted to scream because in all of their efforts to avoid this very moment, he still found himself in it. He was still drowning. He was still going to die, and all for what? What cruel joke was being played upon him? Why did this need to happen? Why did he need to die? Why couldn’t they have prevented this? 

Another muffled scream. 

He attempted to move his head in the general direction of the cries but his vision became spotty as he tried to exert the energy to move forwards. His lungs constricted against the restraint of water surrounding him, slowly taunting him and mocking him from the lack of air that he so desperately needed. His dream was coming true. He resisted for long enough until his body betrayed him, and his mouth opened swallowing copious amounts of water as his fight or flight reaction consumes him. It’s a losing battle, one he can’t win. The irony this time was he knew how he got into this situation. He knew he was stupid enough to jump to his death. That he most likely hallucinated Rei; that fate was cruel. 

One thought that ironically entered his mind as his vision became spotty, was his shoes. He was still wearing his shoes. That was the one thing his dreams never envisioned. He had always been barefoot but now his shiny black shoes with the laces that always gave him a hard time, weighed him down heavily. He wanted to laugh. There was no point in crying; he was past crying at this point. He knew what happened next. 

As if on cue, he saw Rei’s worried face swimming towards him. The red dress, that she looked so lovely in, billowing around her as she swam towards him. She wouldn’t reach him. He knew that as water filled his lungs, and prevented him from fighting any longer, his last thoughts before losing consciousness was that he should have known. He should have known that no matter what lifetime he was in, he was doomed to die a horrific death. He felt the repercussions of failed lifetimes as his body kept on going down, and down, until he felt nothing but numbness wash across his body. His eyes finally rolled back into his head, with a lasting image of Rei swimming towards him and the water swaying beautifully against her skin. His final thought was that it was unfortunate she looked sad, he was never meant to live. His body spasmed with his water filled lungs, as all fight left him and he lay unmoving going down, and down, and down. 


	8. Fated Lovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: In this chapter there’s a small nod to GOBLIN (an amazing K-drama series) which talks about life and death. If you haven’t watched it, I suggest you do! It’s amazing!
> 
> Also, huge thanks to my BFF for helping me iron out who the "evil" was in this storyline. I had hit a major roadblock and appreciate hashing out the storyline with her! THANK YOU!!

In her panic at the situation, Rei froze, lungs constricting, as she saw Jadeite lose consciousness right before her eyes. While the panic should have been crippling and sent her into a downward spiral, it served the opposite. Her resolve to save the man she loved pushed her forward, forcing her to fight the burning sensation in her lungs. She just needed to get to him, get him to the surface, and then everything would be ok. It HAD to be ok, she thought to herself as she used every ounce of energy to propulse herself forward. She reached for his open collar making his limp body move towards her. She took note that his head swayed in the water, and wrapped one arm around his chest as she brought his back close to hers. She had never been a strong swimmer, opting to stay on the ground more often than not, but in this instance, none of this mattered. All that mattered was that she needed to get them both above the water. 

Forcing her legs, to do the grueling task of pushing them both to the surface she kicked with all of her strength, and used her free arm to finally breakthrough the open waters. She took in a large gasp of air as sweet air filled her lungs. She hadn’t realized how oxygen deprived she was as she readjusted to her surroundings. The world seemed too bright even in the darkened waters as she scanned her settings and noticed the cruise ship had continued to sail on. She let out an exasperated cry as rogue tears travelled down her face. She needed to pull herself together for Jadeite’s sake and realized that she hadn’t tended to him. With trembling fingers, she made sure to lean his head against her shoulder, forcing his face to be facing the sky. If she hadn’t witnessed him drowning, she would have thought that he was peacefully sleeping. The moon hit him so perfectly on his angelic features. Even though he looked peaceful, she knew it was for sinister reasons and she needed to tend to him immediately. 

Scanning her horizons, she looked for a sign of land or anything that she could grab onto. Thankfully, they had drifted close to the shores of Odaiba and the shores were within her reach. She called the power of Mars and asked for her assistance as she used all of her energy to reach the shore quickly. Her desperate calls were heard, and instead of having to do the arduous journey herself, she felt a warm glow envelop her. Closing her eyes and increasing her grip on Jadeite, she felt herself deposited on the soft shores. She would question what happened later, for now she had more pressing issues to deal with. 

Rolling onto her side and kneeling on her knees, she ripped open Jadeite’s shirt and placed both of her hands at the bottom of his ribcage and started to administer CPR through tears. She not only felt them falling down her face, but she could see them hitting her hands and his chest, as she prayed to the gods that Jadeite would be ok. “C-Come on Jed..eite,” she stuttered as she placed her lips on his and pushed air into his lungs. “P-please wake up,” she cried as she continued her attempts to revive him for several minutes. “I can’t lose you,” she cried, “not again… this CAN’T be happening. IT CAN’T,” she screamed as she once again placed her lips on his. 

Nothing happened. No movement, no breaths, nothing. 

Desperation creeped through Rei’s veins as she realized her attempts were in vain and she became desperate to save the man she loved. “Don’t do this to me Jadeite,” she cried as she wrapped her arms around Jadeite and dropped her head to his chest. “You can’t do this… it can’t be another doomed lifetime,” she cried. “I can’t do it this time without you. I need you by my side,” she said in a moment of weakness. She knew she had lived without him in the past but this time was different. She had experienced and seen him in a natural setting. No powers involved. No evil lurking around the corner. Just a normal courtship that could have become so much more. She didn’t care that he didn’t remember her, she knew that eventually he would have loved her. Honestly, she had already seen the way he looked at her. There was a thin string of fate tying them together. They were destined to be together and she refused to let him go this way. They couldn’t part in such a cruel way… in such a human way. 

“Please… wake up. I need you,” she begged, only to be met with silence. 

The silence was deafening as she sobbed into his chest, with no response. “Please,” she whispered again, “I’ll do anything to save him,” she cried as she tried to find a way to bring him back. In a moment of pure genius or insanity, she wasn’t sure, she decided that maybe she could use her powers to bring him back. If an evil had someone infiltrated him, maybe an ofuda to ward off evil would help. Wiping her tears and focusing on conjuring an ofuda, she took a deep breath. “Please work,” she whispered as the white paper appeared in her hands. “Evil spirit begone,” she whispered as she pushed the ofuda on his chest. 

A gust of air wrapped around them both, as the charm illuminated briefly on Jadeite’s chest, and then dulled. Rei watched on, hopeful, that Jadeite would open his beautiful blue eyes. That she would see the sparkle once more, but when nothing happened, she crumpled onto herself and began sobbing heavily, arms wrapped around each other. 

He was gone. 

She hadn’t been able to save him. She once again failed. Her destiny to live without love set in stone. 

“Your determination and will is admirable,” a softly spoken voice echoed on the deserted shores of Odaiba. 

Rei lifted her tired head at the sound of the voice and strained to see who was talking to her. Wiping her tears unceremoniously she looked to her right noticing a figure camouflaged by the darkness. 

“W-who are you?” Rei asked bewildered and apprehensive. She didn’t feel an evil presence but she could feel the immense power emanating from whoever was there. “Did you do this to him? Did you take him away from me again?” she accused as she slowly lifted herself from her knees. “Show yourself you coward… you DID this,” she further accused. 

The voice replied calmly. “Technically, yes. The universe always eliminates that which should not exist,” and paused, “and Jadeite, my dear Sailor Mars, should not have been reborn.” 

“Then WHY WAS HE?” Rei screamed approaching the figure. “Why give me this false hope at a happy life and then rip it away? What was the purpose?” 

“The purpose? Perhaps, a test… to test truly fated lovers.”

“Stop talking in riddles, and show yourself! Or so help me, I will fry your ass,” Rei warned. “I’m not exactly emotionally stable right now and with the pent up anger and anguish I’m feeling right now, I will have NO ISSUE sending you back to whatever hell you came from!” 

“You’re determined,” the voice continued calmly. “All of you Senshi are so determined,” the voice paused again, “and filled with endless amounts of love for those you care about. It’s a beautiful thing. You know, Princess Serenity, revived him. I gave her a chance. I warned her to protect them at all cost… and yet, here we are. The universe always takes back that which should not exist.” 

“Bullshit,” Rei spat out. “You know what? YOU,” she said pointing an accusatory finger, “YOU put him at a disadvantage. YOU gave him foresight into his own death, you tempted him to die, you brought him here.” 

“And yet, here you are. YOU attempted to save him…”

“But, it was never a fair chance,” Rei interrupted. “You knew that already…” she said approaching the figure. She could see a faint outline. “Show yourself… I want to know who murdered my lover...” 

“Murdered?” the voice scoffed. “That’s quite a strong word… who even said he was dead,” the voice almost hissed as she stepped away from the protection of the darkness of the trees to uncover her identity. 

To Rei’s surprise and utter confusion, she found herself face to face with another Sailor Senshi. She took in her impressive appearance, white hair flowing through two heart-shaped odangos. She wore a dress that resembled a sailor fuku with a white collar, short yellow sleeves with wings and multicolored ribbons in the middle of her skirt underneath a yellow heart broach with wings. Her first thought was that this Sailor Senshi was beautiful and then her second thought drifted to how similar she was to Usagi. 

“Who are you?” Rei asked flatly followed by, “and what do you mean he’s not dead?”

“Both appropriate questions,” the new senshi chimed. “I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier, but I don’t make appearances for nought,” she admitted. “I am Sailor Cosmos, a senshi of the future. You can think of me as the Senshi of order and rebirth. I hold the power to manipulate time along with the outcome of life and death,” she offered. “Therefore, I would suggest that you listen carefully to my next thoughts.” 

Rei wanted to argue further, however, she didn’t want to upset the seemingly powerful senshi before her. She reiterated to herself that she felt no evil power coming from her, instead it was a power eerily familiar to Usagi’s. She couldn’t help but think they were somehow related in one way or another but she didn’t press the issue further. Instead, she simply nodded at the senshi’s request and opened her heart to listen. 

“You see,” Sailor Cosmos began, “Princess Serenity, was so distraught over the last battle with Metalia that she wanted to bring the Shitennou back to life. I explained to her the consequences. They are not supposed to live, yet, they keep on coming back. They were destined to live one life, not two or three, unlike you Senshi. They were civilians and should have remained civilians. Instead, Metalia along with Queen Beryl already broke the laws of fate, and brought them back to life. I realized they were strongly tied to all of you when Serenity begged for their revival. How could I not say yes, to such a heartfelt plea?” Sailor Cosmos noted and paused for effect. “I couldn’t, so I bent time and the outcome, however, fate has a funny way of working. There’s always a cycle, a cycle to life and death, and it’s no different for the Shitennou. There’s always a pattern. Jadeite dies first, Nephrite follows, then Zoisite and finally, Kunzite. That’s the order with the final outcome always being death. This time was to be NO different, however, here we are. Fate intertwined you and Jadeite strongly from the beginning. He dreamed about you from the day he was awakened and you saw him in your fires. It was only a matter of time before your star lover paths crossed again. The pull was undeniable and it will be for the others as well. What I didn’t anticipate was that you would break the cycle…” 

“I didn’t break the cycle,” Rei countered as she looked down at Jadeite’s unmoving pale form. “He still died,” she said with a sob threatening to surface once more. 

“But did he?” Sailor Cosmos offered again. “I counter once more that he’s not dead. YOU saved him,” she said lifting a finger from Rei to Jadeite’s body. “Your love and determination to bring him back worked. That’s why I’m here… I felt the disruption in the cosmos and felt his life being brought back. A simple charm laced with fated love can do a lot,” she said cryptically. “Everything that is created can be taken away, however, the only thing we can never account for is LOVE,” she said with a smile. “Love, desperation, and pure determination can be stronger than a fated outcome. Fate can be twisted and turned in different directions. Fate CAN change and be molded into what we want if we have the desire to do so. YOU altered fate.” 

“I don’t understand,” Rei admitted. “I did nothing…” 

“You did so much,” Cosmos countered. “In your desperation, you called the right gods and you used your own powers to bring him back. He had been on the verge of extinction but your desperate cry was heard by the powers of Mars and the minute you conjured your ofuda, whether it was to ward off evil or not, you succeeded in breaking the vicious cycle. Your powers and the universe allowed you to reclaim what was truly yours: your fated lover.” 

“I don’t understand…” 

“Have you heard the theory that you have four lives to live?” Cosmos asked with a smile. “We all have four lives, whether we live through them or not. A life of planting seeds, a life of watering the seeds, a life of harvesting and then a life of cherishing the harvests you have grown so patiently. You just successfully harvested your life to give Jadeite his fourth life in which you will cherish each other. Obstacles will come and go, but none as significant of what you just experienced. So cherish each other and make sure your harvest is not wasted.” 

Rei blinked slowly at the realization that Sailor Cosmos might be telling the truth. She had heard of the theory of four lives and while she believed it, she thought her life had been broken to begin with. Looking over at Jadeite she tried to decipher if he was breathing or not but she couldn’t tell because it was too dark. Finally, she settled on three words, “Are you certain?”

“I am,” Sailor Cosmos said with resolve. “While, it has been a difficult journey, your cycle has been successfully broken. Enjoy what you both have, and live everyday for each other and the future you will build together.” 

“What about the others?” Rei questioned. “Has their cycle been broken? Did we save everyone?” 

Sailor Cosmos’ face faltered and shook her head. “ _ Your _ cycle has been broken, the others will need to face their own adversities. Only the fated can change their future and no one else can. If they are meant to break the cycle they will, if not, they will suffer the consequences of losing their loved ones again. Fate works in mysterious ways, and chooses who to spare from despair, it’s now up to them to break that cycle. I’ve given you enough information to help them… there IS an order and THEY must break it.” 

Rei mulled over her words, and while they made sense, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy about the implication of her words. It meant that there was a chance that some of the Shitennou would succumb to their predestined deaths and others wouldn’t. She wondered if fate was kind enough to allow them all to survive. Unfortunately, she didn’t think fate was that kind and in a selfish moment of need, she was happy that she had a positive outcome. 

“With that thought freshly in mind, I will leave you with another gift,” Sailor Cosmos said with a smile. “Do not waste this opportunity,” she said softly as a staff manifested itself in her hands. The staff was as white as her hair adorned with wings. Rei focused on the staff as a warm glow formed around the wings and the orb. “Good luck with everything Sailor Mars,” she concluded as the warm glow grew in intensity and a bright flash of light finally erupted hitting Jadeite and then knocking Rei off her feet to the ground knocking her unconscious.

“I know you will not waste this opportunity, my dearest Rei. I always had faith in you. Be well, and take care of Jadeite,” Sailor Cosmos uttered as the staff disappeared from her hands and she disappeared into nothingness leaving the beach dark and quiet once again, with no trace of her ever appearing. 


	9. Trusting in Fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And we've come to an end :) I hope you guys enjoyed it!

Jadeite was warm and that was a welcomed change for once. Even though he was disoriented he felt like he was floating and there was something peaceful about the feeling that was traversing through his body. He had no pain, his lungs weren’t constricted and most importantly, he could breathe. There was no water obstructing his lungs. Just a peaceful feeling washing over his body. Even though he felt at peace, he couldn’t open his eyes, or wake himself up. The thought concerned him, but he knew he was already dead, so really there was no fear. There was nothing for him to fear at this point. Death was the worse outcome and that’s what had happened. He died in vain, most likely in Rei’s arms. Now, he was stuck in some sort of peaceful void, probably condemned to spend the rest of eternity in. 

It  _ was _ peaceful though. It was a comforting thought. It could be worse…

Sighing to himself, he tried opening his eyes again. This time it worked, although he knew he was in some sort of in between world. He found himself in a darkened room with no lights. He couldn’t see his own hand or really feel his body. He felt like he was neither alive nor dead. Just a weighless being stuck by himself. This would get lonely quickly, he thought to himself as he pushed himself forward. The more he walked, the more he realized there was no point and sat down in the nothingness. 

_ “Remember…”  _

Jadeite stilled at the voice, it felt so close. He looked around him but all he saw was darkness. The voice chuckled at his action and repeated again,  _ “Remember!”  _

Frustrated and always one with the least patience, he jumped to his feet. “Remember what?” he asked turning around still trying to find the source of the voice. “You can’t just show up in my after life or whatever this is, and be all cryptic and not give me a hint to remember what or what I should do?” he stated frustratedly as he walked aimlessly. “My entire existence is frustrating...” he stated like a petulant child. If he would have been able to kick the floor or anything for that matter, he would have. Instead, he settled on balling his fists. 

_ “Always so feisty… now remember…”  _

“Like, I said… easy for you to say but I can’t just be like, oh HEY, there’s my lost memories… and welcome them back. I’m kinda in a desperate situation here…” Jadeite cut himself off as he finally saw the outline of a door appear in front of him. The endless room was still darkened, however, now he could see a bright light trying to breakthrough the cracks of the door. He walked towards the door and stopped abruptly in front of it as the door handle came into view. He observed the handle and then looked behind him. Where was that voice, he thought to himself, and then refocused back on the door. Truthfully, he didn’t feel uneasy about the situation he found himself in. Instead, he felt oddly reassured. If he was dead, at least he would remember the missing pieces of his life, if that’s what they were hinting at. God, he hoped that’s what they were hinting at. He needed to remember the good, the bad and the ugly! 

Wasting no time, he figured, there was no point in delaying, he put his hand on the door handle and turned to the right. To his surprise, the door handle followed the motion and he pushed forward. The light behind the door was completely blinding. Jadeite tried to shield his eyes but it was impossible to do so. He felt like the light was permeating through him. There was light everywhere, sounds, voices, and images. 

“What the hell…?” he exclaimed as the words died on his tongue. 

The sounds, voices and images, became too much for him to handle as he stumbled to his knees grabbing his head. It was all too overwhelming. Images from a past he couldn’t remember assaulted him from every corner of his brain and he screamed as an overwhelming panic coursed through his body. He had been evil, he had been a lover, he had been a soldier, he had been a knight, he had been a friend, he had been a brother, he had been a son, every reminder assaulted him at once. Before long, he couldn’t handle the pressure of the numerous memories, tears falling down his face and his heart aching as he was thrown into the emotional turmoil that was his past lives. After a few moments of the violent assault, he felt the images dying down along with his energy. Before long, he felt his face hit the cold floor of nothingness followed by silence as he loss consciousness. 

* * *

Rei was the first one to wake up after the blinding flash of light Sailor Cosmos created. Her violet eyes fluttered open as she found herself lying on her back staring up at the stars. She was momentarily disoriented as all of the memories of the previous minutes fluttered back into her mind. It was those thoughts that propulsed her onto her feet as she searched for Jadeite’s body. She saw him lying a few feet away from her and ran to his side, dropping to her knees. Sailor Cosmos, had said he was ok. She had said, he was ok, she repeated as she put both of her hands on the side of his face. 

He was warmer than before… still cold but there appeared to be life emanating from him and the bluish tint that had slowly become present was now gone. 

“Jadeite,” she said softly stroking the side of his face. “Can you hear me? Jed…?” she asked tears starting to threaten to fall once more. He had to be ok, she had said he would be ok, she thought to herself. When he didn’t respond or move, her actions became more frantic. Why wasn’t he waking up, she thought to herself as she shook him slightly. “Please, wake up,” she repeated. “Please…” 

“Jadeite, please…” 

Jadeite in his state of unconsciousness was aware that someone was calling his name. He let his mind search for the name, Rei. Yes, it was Rei calling him. He needed to respond but he had a splitting headache. He felt as though his brain had been cut open only to be stuffed with foreign information he had never been privy to. He honestly sympathized momentarily with a turkey that had been a victim of stuffing. 

“Jadeite, she said you would be ok. Open your eyes, please!!” 

Rei was frantic, Jadeite recognized that as he felt his body being shaken. It did nothing to appease the headache that was throbbing loudly in his mind or the aches and pains of his body. He felt like he had been run over by a plane. He knew he needed to open his eyes and he willed himself to do it, albeit unsuccessfully. When his motor functionality for his eyes failed, he opted for his arms instead. With great effort, he managed to move his right arm slowly snaking it around Rei’s back and pushing her down towards him. He heard the shocked gasp that left her lips and he smiled. 

“Jadeite!” she squealed in his ear and hugged him tightly as he wrapped his left arm around her. 

As his other functions caught up to him, he opened his mouth, albeit in a small coughing fit and then cleared his throat. “A-are you ok?” he asked his voice unsteady. He felt like he hadn’t spoken in years. 

“Oh my god,” she said pulling slightly away from him. “Are you seriously asking me if I’m ok?!?” she asked incredulously. “YOU’RE the one who almost died… NOT ME!!” she said as tears fell freely at this point. “I was s-so s-scared,” she stuttered as she hugged him again. Jadeite took the opportunity to pass his hand through her hair and place a featherlight kiss on top of her hair. 

“I’m sorry,” he stated earnestly. “I didn’t mean to scare you…” 

“I know you didn’t,” she said now sobbing into his side. “I just was so scared to lose you again.” 

Jadeite nodded as he continued to play with her hair. Even though he was still reeling from everything, he was elated to be in this position. Finally opening his eyes, he looked at Rei’s form closely pressed against him, and he smiled. “I’ll make sure to be more careful in the future,” he said with a slight chuckle, almost regretting it at once as it sent a sharp pain through his chest. He definitely needed some medical assistance after what had happened to him. 

Rei forced herself to move slightly away from Jadeite, providing her with a better vantage point. “Do you remember what happened? Why in gods name did you end up in the water?” she questioned. “You’re sick…” 

Without thought Jadeite answered, he knew why he had jumped in. “I thought you were drowning,” he admitted sadly. “It seemed so real, I could see your red dress… I honestly thought you were going to die and the thought terrified me,” he noted. 

“Why would I be in the water Jadeite,” she accused. 

“I don’t know,” he shrugged slightly which sent another wave of pain, he might have some broken ribs, he realized. He wasn’t certain how he would have received them but he suspected it had something to do with his rescue. “I  _ really  _ thought it was you,” he reiterated. “But let’s not focus on that… I’m just happy we’re both ok,” he admitted as he put his hand on her cheek caressing it gently. He tilted his head slightly and simply looked at her. For two lifetimes, he had waited to be able to be with her like this. While the circumstances were not ideal, he was thankful they had found each other again, and most importantly, that he remembered  _ everything.  _

Rei moved into his caress and looked at him with an odd expression. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she questioned tilting her head now. 

“I’m just taking it all in,” he admitted with a small smile. “And remembering, how lucky I am to have you.”

“What do you mean remembering?” 

“Remembering,” he repeated his smile growing. “I don’t know what happened and whether I hit my head, or you finally knocked some sense into me, but I remember. I remember everything,” he admitted. “The good, the bad and the ugly… I remember it all vividly. The memories came back to me in a flash of light. I know it sounds hard to believe but it all came back to me prior to waking up.” 

“W-what? You r-remember?” 

“I do,” he said passing his thumb over her bottom lip as it quivered. “I remember,” he reiterated again. “Everything,” he said with finality as he snaked his hand behind her neck and pulled her down towards him. He hesitated slightly, feeling her breath on his lips, which sent a jolt through his body. He let his eyes travel from her eyes down to her lips and then back up to her eyes. 

“Everything?” she repeated breathless. Before she could confirm that Sailor Cosmos gave him back his memories, Jadeite closed the gap between them and pressed his lips to hers, in an almost urgent fashion. Rei hesitated only slightly at first before she leaned in fully, wrapping her arms around his neck, matching Jadeite’s intensity. She let out a small gasp as Jadeite’s hand travelled through her hair and he let his tongue slip into her mouth, exploring what was once his. He let out a small moan himself as he they kissed as though they would be separated at any moment. 

In that moment, Jadeite forgot about the pain, and the cold that surrounded him. Instead he let the fire within him consume him whole the more he got to taste Rei and let his hands explore her body without breaking their heated kiss. 

He had missed her so much, it almost physically hurt to think of not remembering her. He couldn’t let her go, as he flipped her over onto her back. A hiss escaped his lips at the pain that traversed his body, this wasn’t a good idea, and he continued to press into her, devouring every inch she would allow. 

“He looks fine to me…” 

The voice momentarily shook Jadeite out of his reverie, and without breaking the kiss he did look up to see who was interrupting their overdue reunion. To his dismay, he saw Zoisite and Kunzite along with Mamoru and Usagi staring at them open jawed. Jadeite broke the kiss and slowly sat back on his legs, hissing in pain again. “Uh… hello,” he said sheepishly, which then prompted Rei, who was still pinned beneath Jadeite’s legs, to look up at the newcomers. 

“We were worried…” Kunzite offered as some sort of explanation. “There seemed to have been some sort of explosion of light here so we assumed it was related to you two,” he said, shifting uncomfortably. “Clearly, you don’t require our assistance.”

“No, no, we do,” Rei said sitting up, and moving out from beneath Jadeite. “Or at least, Jadeite does,” she said trying to not bring attention to the fact that she had just been caught in a compromising position which could have escalated quite quickly if they had not interrupted. 

“He looks damn fine to me,” Zoisite said with a chuckle and winked at Jadeite, giving him the thumbs up for having sealed the deal finally, completely unaware of all the implications. 

“Uh… thanks Zoisite,” Jadeite said sheepishly as he passed a nervous hand through his hair. The motion elicited a gasp from him as he fell forwards on his knees and hands. He was clearly still sick with the flu and his chest really did hurt. Every movement he made, sent a shock throughout his system. Even his current position sent pain coursing through him, and he opted to just roll over onto his back and lay there. 

“You dying?” Zoisite said walking over and looking over Jadeite. 

“I feel like I did…”

“Technically, he did die but it’s a long story,” Rei admitted as she looked down at Jadeite from her kneeled position. “He really does need a hospital,” she said looking to the others. 

“Are you sure he’s ok though?” Usagi questioned stepping from behind Mamoru. The guilt of her actions still weighed heavily on her and she wanted to ensure that she hadn’t somehow contributed to his current state. 

“He’s more than fine,” Rei said smiling at Usagi and then to Jadeite. “We have a lot to explain… but how about we get him to the hospital and then explain everything?” 

“Of course,” Mamoru noted as he dialed 119 for emergency assistance. 

The following hours were a mixture of ambulances, hospitals and lots of testing. It was determined that while Jadeite did in fact have a severe case of the flu, he had two broken ribs along with water in his lungs. The doctors had been dumbfounded at the story of him falling off the cruise ship, due to his illness, and treated him with the utmost care. As Jadeite was taken care of, Rei had filled in everyone on what had happened along with the appearance of Sailor Cosmos. She advised them from the warnings, to the cycle of death they were currently all stuck in, to the four lives. While the others were shocked they were thankful they now had something to work with and could essentially prepare for what was to come. They vowed they wouldn’t let what happened to Jadeite, happen to anyone. While Rei agreed with them, she still heeded Sailor Cosmos’ warning that perhaps not all of them could survive, and this information she kept to herself. She didn’t want to give them any doubts in the difficult task they would need to undertake in the months to come, especially that Nephrite was next according to the cycle. No, for that she would simply pray that everyone would be ok and that the universe would grant them all a happy ending.

* * *

A few days later… 

“How are you feeling?” Rei asked as she walked into Jadeite’s hospital room. 

Jadeite stirred from his light sleep and opened his eyes, a faint smile playing on his lips. “Much better,” he said motioning her to come over to him. She smiled at him as she walked towards the bed allowing herself to sit on the edge. She lifted her hand and carded it through his blonde locks. 

“I have to admit that you look much better than you did a few days ago. The medication and rest must be helping, you have more colour,” Rei said moving a persistent lock from his eyes. 

“Sure, it’s the medicine,” he teased as he took her hand in his and kissed each finger. “It has  _ nothing  _ to do with a certain Miko I know by the name of Rei Hino,” he said with a cheeky grin. 

“You’re insufferable,” she said swatting him and laughing as he feigned being hurt. “It’s not me… stop flirting,” she said with a laugh. 

“What? Dr. Hino is very effective at administering first aid to the very sick Jadeite,” he said grinning as he observed a blush cross her cheeks. “It’s almost like you’re a miracle worker, Dr. Hino,” he said tugging at her sleeve to bring her closer to him. 

“I don’t remember you being this bold Jadeite,” she said with a raised eyebrow as she giggled into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. 

“Well, Ms. Hino,” he purred. “I have two lifetimes to make up for,” he said nuzzling her neck and placing a trail of kisses up to her ear. “I need to make up for everything I did and I can’t let anymore moments pass me by,” he said smiling. “And in all seriousness, I realized how fragile life is, so why waste it?” he noted. “I don’t want anymore moments to slip through the cracks or for us to be away from each other anymore. We’ve had enough of that for all of our lifetimes.” 

Rei hummed in agreement as she let out a sigh. “I can’t believe how lucky we are to have found each other again, with our memories and defeated that crazy loop of fate. We’re lucky,” she admitted. 

“I know,” he agreed. “We really are,” he said shifting in the bed to let her crawl in next to him. “I’m just happy that everything worked out. It’s all thanks to you,” he admitted as he shifted to his side to look at her and caress the side of her face. 

“It’s not just me,” she argued. “You played a huge part in this as well.”

“No, I didn’t,” he said shaking his head. “It’s all thanks to you that I survived… if you hadn’t thought of the ofuda, I would have died. You saved me, it was all you.” 

Rei shrugged. “I don’t care how it was done. The good news is that it was done. That you survived and that we’re getting an additional chance to live normal lives. That’s what I’m thankful for,” she said pressing her body closer to his. 

Jadeite mimicked her motions and wrapped both arms around her body and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Me too,” he said resting his chin on her head, listening to her small breaths of air. 

“Jadeite?” 

“Hmmm?” he responded as he rubbed her back. 

“Everything is going to be ok, right?” Rei asked shifting and looking up at him.

Jadeite smiled back. “It has to be,” he said putting a hand through her hair. “I won’t let anything else happen to us,” he admitted. “I love you far too much to have anything else happen.”

“I love you so much too,” Rei said lifting her head and placing a quick kiss on his lips. “So, much.” 

Jadeite smiled, “I think I love you more,” he said teasingly.

“HEY!!” Rei said playfully smacking him in the shoulder. “That’s not true!!” 

“Ouch, ouch, I’m still damaged,” he said with a laugh while rubbing his shoulder. “I was just kidding… althoughIloveyoumore,” he said quickly with a grin. 

“Ugh… you’re such an ass. I’m pretty sure I love you more. I BROKE the loop,” she insisted raising an eyebrow. 

“haha ok ok we love each other equally,” he said laughing, “Just don’t hit me. I’ll have to call the authorities and say my girlfriend is beating me up!”

“Jadeite! I’m not beating you up,” she said hitting him in the shoulder again.

He raised an eyebrow and pointed with his eyes to his shoulder. “I’m sorry what did you say?” he said laughing at her expense. 

“Oh my god,” she said covering her face with her hands. “You made me walk into that…”

“Ah… my violent girlfriend,” he said removing her hands from her face. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said smiling. “You’re my firecracker,” he said, lifting her chin towards him. “You can hit me all you want,” he said closing the gap between them. “We have lifetimes to make up for after all,” he said before closing the gap and capturing her lips. 

Rei tried to protest but lost her resolved as she melted into the kiss and wrapped her arms around him. She let him deepen the kiss, letting his tongue run over her lips and pushing it slowly into her mouth. She moaned into the kiss as Jadeite deepened the kiss, never increasing the intensity. It was a loving kiss, to signify the love they shared and to bond them together forever. Jadeite’s heart rate increased as his hormones took over causing the heart rate monitor to beep erratically. Rei smiled into the kiss and broke away after a few moments. 

“We can’t be warned again…” she said softly looking at him with a strong blush across her cheeks. “Last time, I was almost banned from the hospital. I don’t want to run the risk of being kicked out,” she said with a giggle. 

“Ok, Ok,” Jadeite said catching his breath. “How about we just lie here,” he said softly placing her head in the gap between his neck and shoulder blade. Rei nodded into his shoulder and made herself comfortable. 

Jadeite smiled to himself and whispered a small I love you to her, which she hummed back. After several moments, he felt Rei fall asleep in his arms and he couldn’t help but think he was the luckiest man in the world. He closed his eyes thinking about the events from the past few weeks and shook his head. It had been such a tumultuous time but everything worked out in the end. 

The universe did indeed work in mysterious ways, and while he realized, he was only a speck in the universe, he was eternally grateful to have been provided an additional opportunity to right his wrongs, and live with the woman he loved. Others, would not be so lucky, but he had been spared and pushed to live a fruitful life, and that he would. He wouldn’t waste his final opportunity to make Rei happy and to demonstrate to not only Sailor Cosmos but the Universe that he was a fighter. One that would stand not only by the woman he loved but stand in unity with his fellow Shitennou. He wouldn’t let the universe take them away either. 

As he passed a comforting hand through Rei’s hair, and he smiled at her presence next to him, he vowed that no matter what he would fight for them. Never again, would he let them go down. A turn of the tide had prevented him from going down and now all that was left was to ensure no one else fell into the trap. There was only love, friendship and going up left, and for that he was thankful. Going down, was no longer an option. There was only going up, and it’s with those thoughts that he let himself be lulled to sleep, a smile on his face, thinking of his open future, and the possibility of going onwards and upwards. 

###  **The End **


End file.
